SPPRA prepares draft regulations for procurement of works

To stall the scourge of corruption, Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA) has prepared draft regulations for procurement of works in the province. Under section 27 of Sindh Public Procurement (SPP) Act - 2009, SPPRA has the powers to make regulations. The same has been sent to the procuring agencies of Sindh province for soliciting their views/input/comments.
The Authority believes that the stakeholders have varied experiences and knowledge, and their input will bring value addition to the draft. The draft regulations have been prepared keeping in view the provisions of SPP Act - 2009 and SPP Rules - 2010 and shall be notified by the Authority after taking into account the feedback from all the administrative departments, local governments, autonomous and semi-autonomous agencies, and project/programme directors of government of Sindh.
Rizwan Ahmed, Managing Director, SPPRA has requested that draft regulations may be studied minutely by the officials concerned with procurement works and feedback may be sent to the Authority by June 25, 2011. If the department or agency does not send the feedback by the cut-off date, it will be deemed that it has no comments to offer and the regulations will be notified accordingly after seeking the approval from SPPRA board.
The endeavour of the Authority is to facilitate the procuring agencies in carrying out procurement works in its true perspective. Engr. M.A.Jabbar, Chairman, R & D and WTO cell of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) commenting on the efforts of SPPRA said that the country could save some 17 percent of the tender value alleged to be contributing to corruption. Procurement agencies alone in Sindh would be working against a sizeable amount of Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and the preliminary figures show that provinces are going to pursue a PSDP of Rs 400 billion.
Sindh alone with a PSDP of more than Rs 100 billion would strike to save the empirical statistical setting by World Bank reports that Pakistan consumes 17 percent in corruption of the project values processed for tendering. The figures of corruption alone earlier were quantified up to USD eight billion based on public sector programme expenditures and all the procurements, which the Government of Pakistan makes. The figure was quantified to be USD four billion as saving on account of curbing corruption in the government procurements under all the heads of procurements, which include PSDPs. The procurements of other heads may also include three percent of the equivalent of the GDP spent on health, education and safety net. Besides the big contingency expenditures and procurements by the corporations, entities, authorities and government guaranteed companies also constitute a considerable amount, he said.
Engr. Jabbar said that standardisation and development of SOPs through documents under adoption by SPPRA for compliance by procurement agencies will improve transparency, reduce corruption and will also reduce the percentage amount of 17 percent corruption in tender awarded projects and execution thereof. He said that improvements and trust of businessmen in SPPRA is manifested by the figures that 60,000 are made per month on the website of SPPRA in context of search and find Notice Inviting Tenders (NITs).
"We in the FPCCI believe in supporting and promoting all the institutions, which would combat with inefficiency, corruption and promote transparency, which is the only way out to strengthen the working of institutions in the national interest. The saving on procurements through stringency of SOPs set by the NITs alone in Sindh can make available the money, which can be spent on social net," he said.
Engr. Jabbar said that FPCCI standing committee on R & D and WTO cell intends to hold a workshop leading to recommendations, which would improve the working of SPPRA and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), as it is very much in "our own interest to see that the legislative frameworks and rules have force to dictate transparency and use public money to the critical; and optimal utilisation, as tax payers money should find a zero tolerance of corruption. We are of the view that reduced corruption will induce competition and business and commercial enterprises will have more to work with the public procurement agencies."
Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority is working on plans to ensure constitution of Complaint Redressal Committees (CRCs) in pursuance of Rule - 31 of SPP Rules 2010. Rules - 31 and 32 of SPP Rules 2010 envisage a comprehensive complaint redressal mechanism for smooth and efficient procurements in the province. According to Rule 31 of SPP Rules 2010, every administrative department, autonomous/semi-autonomous organisation and district government is mandated to constitute a CRC for redressing grievances of aggrieved bidders.
The members of CRC shall not be part of any procurement committees or shall not be actively involved in any procurement process in the administrative department, autonomous/semi-autonomous organisations or district government as the case may be.
The complaints against the procurements in project/programme shall be heard by the administrative department of that project/programme, whereas, the complaints against taluka/town municipal administrations shall be heard by the respective districts.
In order to further facilitate the stakeholders, Authority has prepared a flow chart, which will further elucidate the redressal mechanism. Rizwan Ahmed has requested all concerned to constitute the said committee at the earliest under intimation to SPPRA, if not already constituted.