By Mulengera Reporters
To his credit, PPDA ED Benson Turamye this week called private firms that bid for government supply contracts and tenders to get their views on the electronic government procurement (eGP) system his entity will begin piloting effective July.
The system will required government procuring entities (PDEs) to source contractors electronically as the paper system (causing bidders to carry volumes of documents) is to be totally abolished. Bidders will equally be required to submit their bids electronically. The e-system is beginning with 10 pilot PDEs before covering the entire GoU system comprising of 372 PDEs.
Taking advantage of the very large audience that filled the meeting hall to capacity, Turamye implored local firms not to give up bidding for GoU jobs saying several efforts have been taken to eliminate corruption and bribe-solicitation by PDEs bosses.
Much of the time went to the plenary session that was ably moderated by PPDA Manager Communications Sylivia Kirabo. Hundreds had issues to raise and feedback to give but the time-constrained organizers only allowed some (not everyone). And in this story we summarize the feedback Turamye and his PPDA teams got from the audience and it goes as follows;
Representing K-Energy Performance, he cursed GoU PDEs delaying to pay service providers accumulating for the state trillions in domestic arrears. He said because of this very crippling practice, banks can’t lend Ugandan contractors (working for govt) considering them risky. Questioning why the Chinese have a lion’s share on government deals, Sengendo also begged PPDA to do something about excessive “Chinization” of government contracts. Turamye attributed this to financing agreements between GoU and the Chinese entities funding these projects. He spoke of contractor-facilitated financing which forces GoU to use direct procurement examples being Karuma and Entebbe Expressway. Indeed donors like the Exim bank of China often impose such conditions. Turamye told Sengendo there isn’t much PPDA can do about his other complaint about certain contractors over monopolizing GoU contracts provided the rules haven’t been flouted. He said that wouldn’t change even under the online system because it won’t alter evaluation criteria.
Turamye also assured bidders the new eGP system won’t diminish the required levels of experience when firms are bidding for jobs. Sengendo said the experience requirements often prohibit would-be good local contractors.
NICOLAS DDUMBA
Speaking for Quality Cuts, Ddumba said eGP was long overdue because his firm has been ready for that sort of environment. He demanded certain thresholds be set because some projects may be too small for eGP, a suggestion Turamye instantly rejected saying e-procurement would cover everything big or small.
CHARLOTTE KATUTU
The lawyer representing Kibeedi & Co Advocates pleaded with PPDA to ensure eGP helps bring to an end inconveniences bidders often suffer trying to harmonize their tax clearance-related requirements with URA. She suggested even NSSF clearance certificate requirements be integrated onto the eGP “so that our bids aren’t locked out over nonexistent tax liability claims.” The audience supported her chorusing that sometimes bids are disallowed because of URA’s inability to quickly verify tax compliance.
DOREEN AKAMPULIRA
She spoke about July being too near to commence user acceptance testing period for the new system but Finance Ministry officials urged against such skepticism with Godfrey Semugoma recalling how similar negativity greeted innovations like EFT and IFMIS which have since proved to be very excellent interventions. UNABCEC ED Elizabeth Muhebwa, representing association for civil & building contractors, defended banks for refusing to fund some bidders to meet contractual obligations because some firms are simply not credit worthy. This is something, she noted, firms should address rather than falsely accusing banks. Finance Ministry’s Semugoma complimented her saying there is a general trust problem in contemporary Uganda.
NELSON ABANGIRA
Said there was vagueness in the definition over who qualifies to be a local company or service provider for purposes of benefiting under the local content-related Preference & Reservation Schemes. He was furious that Chinese continue to monopolize benefits under BuBu simply because they qualify the moment they incorporate a company here. His view was PPDA should guide with clarity to the effect that local content policy strictly applies to companies owned by Ugandan natives. He shared on the hardships involved in getting the Chinese pay in case one gets subcontracted the mandatory 30%.
He said UNRA hadn’t been adequately helpful leaving local firms at the mercy of Chinese major contractors. Next was a rep from furniture supplier Roma Furnishing who wondered where in EAC region PPDA had done benchmarking about eGP.
PATRICK OKOTH
Representing NITA-U, this Project Manager Government Networks arrayed bidders’ fears that the new eGP system will require excessive spending on internet services to enable them submit their bids. He said the huge (over 2400kms) fiber cable investment NITA-U has made will not only saturate the whole country but will also reduce the cost (to lower than the current $70/mbps) and increase speed. He said working with PPDA, NITA-U would be at hand to give technical support by way of basic training to enable bidding entities acquaint themselves with the new procurement system. He implored bidders to perceive the eGP as a business enabler and not a constraint. He said NITA’s resolve is to ensure by 2022 Uganda is 100% digitalized. He also spoke of “ucloud” that has been reserved to ensure integrity, security and confidentiality of the data local bidding firms will have submitted during the bidding processes.
FLORENCE NAKYEYUNE
Responding to Rogers Zzinda’s question, vastly experienced Nakyeyune (who is the eGP Project Manager) explained that encryption technology will be used so that the entire text contained in a firm’s bidding document is kept in unreadable jargon form only to be decrypted during bid opening. This means it won’t be possible for anybody to get access to contents of another’s bidding document so as to adjust and make his more competitive. This is common regarding prices quoted in bid documents-and bidders said often insiders at the PDEs fraudulently access and pass on biding information to their rivals.
Nakyeyune said this encryption technology had been incorporated into the system to preserve integrity and confidentiality of bidding documents. She disclosed the new system will permit electronic retrieval of bidding documents in case a bidder wants to improve on what they originally submitted provided the improved version is resubmitted before closure of submission dates. She advised firms to invest in more sophisticated internet including training their staff.
She said gone are the days when bidding CEOs only purchased MBs for their phones; now is the time to upgrade IT systems including installing modern computer devices and LANs. She stressed scaring as it seems now, these things are doable and in the end contractors will appreciate government for 100% digitalizing bidding and other procurement processes. She recommended special needs assessments for the firms to understand their new IT requirements to cope with the new system. Interjecting from the audience, Spectrum International’s Aisha Nakazibwe caused laughter when she said as an IT officer at one of the private firms, she was already scared having to school her paranoid bosses in what clearly seems to be a difficult shift from manual to digitalized procurement.
“The user interfaces are too hard and not easy to train people at office to become users. Our bosses are stuck on XP and aren’t even familiar with windows 10. I can anticipate them quarrelling that this girl is disrespecting us the day I’m required to take them through this new system,” she said prompting Nakyeyune to jokingly rebuke her for making things even more complicated for the already pensive audience. Nakyeyune hoped things will become clearer and less frightening during the user acceptance testing period in which some bidders will be involved for feedback purposes.
Nakyeyune also explained how the 10 piloting PDEs (Jinja & Mpigi LGs, Ministries of Finance & Water; NSSF & CAA; PPDA, KCCA, NITA-U & UNRA) were chosen starting July. She gave many justifications including proximity to Kampala, earlier efforts to automate procurement functions, prior investments in technology and being led by easily adaptable CEOs strongly supportive of digitalization of service delivery. She said later on (basically July 2020), the other 372 PDEs will massively be rolled onto the eGP.
SEMBATYA OF ROCK TRUST
He urged PPDA to consider capacity building interventions for local firms if they are to significantly benefit from mandatory contradicting that requires foreign firms to give them 30% of the projects. He said the relevant rules and regulations are ambiguous in some aspects and this is being manipulated by the Chinese and some rogue UNRA elements to advantage foreigners. His experiences are restricted to road construction. His firm subcontracted and completed the 30% work in Bunyoro but the Chinese major contractor hasn’t passed on the money now 11 months later. He put blame on UNRA which has allowed the Chinese to act the way they like including mistreating subcontractors. He suggested UNRA should deal with subcontractors directly on the 30% rather than leaving them at the mercy of the Chinese sharks. He said such deliberate mistreatment by the Chinese is the reason banks can’t lend firms like his anymore. Turamye urged bidders with such experiences to reach out in confidence and notify PPDA.
GODFREY SEMUGOMA
Closing the meeting as Finance Ministry rep, Semugoma promised delayed payment of service providers by government was ending soon and banks have been notified too. The problem, he said, was largely dubious individuals withholding contractors’ money and it’s not government policy. The success of the new online procurement system will depend on private firms/bidders (for whom he said it’s a major disruption) more than GoU hence the need for them to massively invest in automation of their processes. In the interim he said the 25 members of the project support staff team will be training private firms on system usage which he promised to ensure is adequately explained through media and issuance of FAQs pamphlets.
(For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755).
