Ministry keeps bidders in suspense
Ministry of Education has for three months kept in suspense 18 successful bidders in a tender to construct secondary school infrastructure under the $90 million (about K73 billion) World Bank-funded project.
The wait comes after the bidders also waited for about a year to know the outcome of the evaluation process. Bids were submitted in July last year and the notification for intention to award contracts was published in July this year.
In an interview yesterday, Ministry of Education spokesperson Chikondi Chimala said the ministry “is still processing and prospective bidders will be notified on next steps at an appropriate time in line with provisions of the Public Procurement Act”.
He refused to explain the cause of the delay to begin the project initially scheduled for last year.
In a separate interview, procurement specialist Amos Nyambo, who is also former chairperson of Malawi Institute of Procurement and Supply (Mips), faulted the delay and attributed it to inefficiency in the management of public procurement.
He said the delay in between the submission of bids and announcement of results has an effect on quoted prices and project cost.
In a notice of intention to award a contract published in July this year, the Ministry of Education listed 18 bidders as successful to carry out various construction works aimed at improving the learning environment, especially in community day secondary schools (CDSSs).
Publication of the notice was in line with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act (2017) which provides a 14-day window to allow for resolution of complaints and where there is none the procuring entity can proceed to award contract.
The World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers put the period at 10 days with a possibility for extension based on justifiable reasons.
In separate random interviews, successful bidders confirmed that there was no communication on what will happen next.
Individual contracts for the 18 bidders range from about K500 million to about K950 million.
From documents we have seen, the bid validity period was 120 days from July last year, meaning that by November, successful bidders should have been notified.
The last extension was for 60 days from August 21 and expires today.
Nyambo said the ministry should have been more efficient considering that this is a time-bound project sponsored from a loan.
He said even if there were complaints regarding the tender that should have been resolved as soon as possible.
In 2019, Malawi got a $90 million (about K73 billion) loan from the World Bank under a project known as Equity with Quality and Learning at Secondary (Equals) to improve quality of science and mathematics instruction in CDSSs and increase access to education in selected remote areas.
Part of the work for this project is construction of laboratories fitted with modern equipment, classroom blocks, girls hostels and latrines which are all in short supply in most CDSSs.
Project documents, available on World Bank website, indicate that disbursement under this loan started in 2019 for other activities including payment of fees/salaries for consultants working for the project implementation unit.
The World Bank was yet to respond to our questionnaire as we went to press.
