By Our Reporters
PPDA Executive Director Benson Turamye’s opening statement was a reference to a very hypothetical story he heard elsewhere. “I’m not going to be an expert on this subject but it’s going to be a participatory meeting. We shall all learn from each other because we are here to listen and take in everything including the lay man’s view,” Turamye said before apologizing about the story he was going to tell.
Turamye then referred to hitherto despised security guard whose counsel solved a very complex puzzle that had eluded all the relevant top thinkers at a vehicle manufacturing plant. Briefly this what happened: an engineer working with a car manufacturing firm innovated and designed a new car model, making the employer extremely happy. After being assembled inside the workshop, the very attractive vehicle proved too large/heightened to be put out of the workshop to the showroom. Different key people brought ideas including some calling for the demolition of the workshop. Some suggested forcing out the vehicle, get it scratched and repaint it afresh once out. Watching from a distance, the security guard realized the dilemma his superiors were in. He reluctantly surged forward and politely begged them to hear his view. “Let’s deflate the tires and the vehicle lowers down as to be able to exit,” he suggested. His advice that instantly worked.
Turamye said this story taught him never to despise anyone including the lay man and women who in their hundreds had gathered for the Thursday half day workshop he convened at Golf Course Hotel to popularize the new electronic government procurement (eGP) method his entity will be piloting beginning July.
The PPDA big man called for as many ideas and reservations as there could be and he indeed got so many including those calling on PPDA and government to engage commercial banks causing them to abandon their reluctance when it comes to funding contractors seeking funding to deliver on contracts awarded to them by GoU. They also urged him to prompt Procurement & Disposal Entities (PDEs) like UNRA to act more considerately when enforcing local content-related Preference & Reservation Schemes imposing mandatory subcontracting of up to 30% of all the road construction jobs won by foreign companies to companies owned by Ugandans. Concerns regarding delay by government to pay its service providers were also frequently raised prompting Turamye to call upon Deputy Accountant General Godfrey Semugoma to give an elaborate explanation.
WHY SHUN GOVT
Admitting there was growing apathy towards jobs advertised by government entities, Turamye said perceived corruption and bribe-solicitation allegations shouldn’t cause Ugandan contractors to totally give up going for government contracts. He said the individual potential contractors ought to do much more to defeat graft than the government itself. “If you all refused to give bribes, what do you think would happen? Won’t that be the end of corruption in procurement? We can collectively do this and succeed,” said Turamye. Saying it was very intriguing to him as a regulator to see on average one or two firms responding to bid solicitation adverts by government PDEs, Turamye said that wasn’t good for government because competition (with many bidding for the jobs) is the only way to guarantee there is value for money in the procurement decisions.
Pleading with them not to give up, Turamye said “government can’t do without you but let’s work together to stop the unethical conduct breeding corruption.” He said there is reason for local firms to have renewed trust in government procurement processes because there are no more delays in payment especially for those selected through restricted bidding. On top of illustrating how the eGP will halt corruption, Turamye also referred to the appeal mechanisms saying dissatisfied bidders can affordably get a remedy through the PDDA appeals mechanism, the Appeals Tribunal or even the Courts of law. He stressed the new eGP will eliminate inefficiencies, diminish corruption tendencies and generally increase integrity around procurement processes.
He said integrity deficiencies wasn’t a problem for only actors in government PDEs but it’s something even the private sector must address as PPDA leads efforts to sanitize procurement processes. He accused private sector of rampant forgeries the most forged documents being bid security (often from Nasser Road), past experience and tax clearance certificates. That sometime back, a private contractor got exposed forging experience aspects of his bid document when he attached a list of engineers and consultants one of whom was Turamye’s own brother. “I rang my brother and asked are you involved in this bidding process and he said not at all. But they had attached his CV and everything. The names were his and everything else except the photos. It was very embarrassing and those things are common,” Turamye said.
As part of the bidding process, firms strengthen their bids by attaching a list of engineers and consultants they intend to deploy to implement the project in case the contract is awarded to them. Better if such guys are high profile in the relevant fields. It increases the competitiveness of one’s bidding document. Yet lots of forgeries happen at that stage. Turamye challenged the private firms to clean up as they push government to stamp out corruption and bribe-solicitation which he admitted is widespread. He said he was tired of being required to sign letters blacklisting and suspending some private sector companies simply because they engaged in forgery.
He said even manipulation of procurement processes or even the evaluation criteria by smuggling in documents mid way the process (sometimes long after bids submission dates’ expiry) is escalating simply because private firms offer bribes to people concerned in the numerous PDEs, enabling criminal collusion to continue unabated.
Regarding local content, Turamye said PPDA (as a regulator) had done their part and would continue doing so but the local firms too must invest in capacity building because regulations alone won’t help as long as companies remain inadequately capitalized and therefore incapable of taking on even 30% of the large construction contracts won by foreign firms.
Turamye also took advantage of the large audience (representing local and service providers to the 372 PDEs in the entire govt) to enumerate the opportunities available under local content policy provisions. The reservations list includes electrical cables, pharmaceuticals and textiles as some of the products that all government PDEs are mandatorily required to 100% buy from local firms. That is how the likes of Nyanza/Picfare and CIPLA Quality Chemicals are respectively cashing in on textiles (selling to armed forces) and pharmaceuticals. Turamye commended UNRA for ensuring 24% of their entire FY2018/19 budget was expended paying for jobs done by local firms.
On jobs related to building, water and irrigation works, any contract below Shs10bn is reserved for local firms to total exclusion of foreign ones. The same applies for consultancy services and non-consultancy services like provision of cleaning services and security guarding services. He said the 30% mandatory subcontracting should automatically lead to skills development, technology and knowledge transfer. Yet PPDA will soon complete a study guiding on the Presidential Directive imposing similar pro-Ugandan reservations on the purchase of furniture and printing services. “We as PPDA have the mandate to do all that but we only need to know the capacity of local contractors,” Turamye said.
Turamye said automation, resulting from the rolling out of the eGP, will harness all those intervention as PDEs won’t be able to subvert procurement principles anymore. He said the new e-procurement system will also ensure PDEs 100% strictly comply with basic procurement principles like competition, inclusiveness, transparency, confidentiality and value for money. He challenged local bidders to regularly read the PPDA Act (especially sections 50 & 59) so that they become acquainted with what they are entitled to. He said at the President’s prompting, the amendments in the PPDA Act would remove all bottlenecks causing unnecessary delays in procurement processes.
Turamye also warned against financial indiscipline and unnecessary rural excitement which local firms’ proprietors exhibit on winning their first ever big job. “The moment many of you get the advance payment to enable you deliver the job, you get new girlfriends and go for a holiday in Dubai. You buy a V8 and squander all the money for the project and in the end it can’t be implemented,” he said wondering why they don’t learn from foreign contractors who are frugal. “They will live in a cheap apartment and ride on a motorcycle when for you are busy putting up a mansion. This has affected capacity building for the Ugandan bidders.”
Building on what eGP Project Manager Florence Nakyeyune had articulated earlier, Turamye said the new e-procurement system wouldn’t lead to the scrapping of any of the evaluation criteria and it will apply to all government jobs whether big or small. Requirements like being tax-compliant, URSB registration and NSSF-compliance will all remain obligatory, Nakyeyune emphasized. The eGP is being implemented in close conjunction with James Saka’s NITA-U which has already supported the project by handing over a brand new official vehicle. Nakyeyune says bidders will need a lot of training and equally significant investment in internet systems to be able to access bidding information and put in their bids via the electronic system whose one year piloting phase will have 10 PDEs. These include Jinja & Mpigi district LGs; Ministries of Finance & Water; agencies like CAA & NSSF; PPDA, KCCA, NITA-Uganda and UNRA. After adequate user acceptance tests have been conducted, all the 372 government Procurement & Disposal Entities (PDEs) will be brought on board. Accountant General rep Godfrey Semugoma told bidders not to worry because eGP too will eventually be demystified with everybody getting used to it just like was the case with IFMIS and EFT payment systems. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
