Procurement clause used should be reviewed and discarded

May 29, 2018 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I use this opportunity to address a matter that I have been pondering over for a while now.
This relates to the clause “the procuring body reserves the right to reject any or all bids without assigning any reasons whatsoever’. The clause is featured quite often when invitation for bids are advertised, and I personally think this is an eye pass.
For starters, this clause gives the evaluation committee of that particular entity the right to reject bids that were responsive and then turn around and hide behind this clause. There are instances when contractors’ bids are rejected due to someone (with lots of power) in the evaluation body having a personal issue with a particular contractor and then that clause is thrown out there. Where is the fairness? Contractors spend a lot of time and money to get bids ready, only to be rejected without any proper reason, and then if they push, they are told that the entity reserves the right to reject any and all bids.
I am therefore calling on the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, The Public Procurement Committee and even the Bid Protest Committee to come together and allow contractors to be treated fairly and be given some satisfaction for all that they would have put in to get their bids ready.
How can you just reject a bid and not provide a reason for doing so, that tells me there was no reason, just that the person that won wasn’t who the entity would have wanted. Also the Government of the day needs to start looking into the malpractices that are perpetrated against contractors that are qualified to carry out works yet unqualified contractors are chosen and they can’t complete or handle the contracts.
Observant citizen

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