Health ministry procurement still under magnifying glass - IPPR
The Institute for Public Policy and Research (IPPR) said on Thursday that the health ministry has, on several occasions, had discrepancies with its annual procurement plans not matching tenders awarded or applied for.
The ministry has also been accused by the Global Fund of having mismanaged the Global Fund Namibia grant over several years.
"The Global Fund's accusations follow a recent audit of its contributions to the health ministry. Among others, the ministry was accused of mishandling procurements under the Global Fund grant.”
IPPR's latest edition of its Procurement Tracker noted that, at the time of publication, the health ministry had yet to issue a comprehensive official response to the Global Fund accusations.
Lack of transparency
Frederico Links, a researcher at IPPR, stated that a lack of transparency in Namibian ministries and companies could lead to increased corruption in the country.
"There are about 190 public entities with a procurement function. All of these entities have to submit an annual procurement plan to the Procurement Policy Unit (PPU), which then publishes the plan on the e-procurement portal.”
Links found that by 23 August only 53 annual procurement plans were viewable via the e-procurement portal.
"That means only about 28% of public entities have submitted their plans to the PPU so far into the 2023/24 financial year."
The most downloaded plan is that of the health ministry, with 480 downloads, followed by the Omusati Regional Council, with 430 downloads, he said.
Not tracking
The ministry earlier this year faced controversies surrounding the clinical and pharmaceutical supplies tenders handled by the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN), according to Links.
He highlighted that much of the criticism of the ministry "appears to be well-founded".
"At the time that the clinical supplies tender (G/OAB/CPBN02/2022) was a public relations headache for the ministry and the CPBN, Procurement Tracker Namibia reported that one of the aspects of the controversy that also raised questions was that the final cost of the tender did not correspond to the estimated amount budgeted for clinical supplies in the health ministry's annual procurement plan for 2022/23," he said.
Bare necessities
Furthermore, the IPPR tracker revealed that according to a revised executive summary of the bid evaluation report, in May, the estimated cost of the tender was N$1.4 billion; however, "the notification of award of this tender only happened on 3 August 2023, following a review panel consideration of the award."
Links added: "Even though this tender was initiated in the 2022/23 financial year, it was awarded in the 2023/24 financial year. According to the 2022/23 annual procurement plan of the health ministry, roughly N$900 million had been allocated for procurement and supply of pharmaceuticals."
In addition, for the financial year 2023-2024, the ministry's procurement plan indicates that an estimated amount of N$543 million was established for the mere procurement of pharmaceutical products over three years. Yet, the ministry estimated that it would need at least N$600 million for that same financial year, which is N$57 million more than the plan indicated.
"A lot of public entities are only producing procurement plans because they have to and barely revisit it thereafter. Boards and ministers don't know what are in these plans, and they don't even sign them off, so they are not holding their partners accountable for the procurements," Links noted.
The ministry has also been accused by the Global Fund of having mismanaged the Global Fund Namibia grant over several years.
"The Global Fund's accusations follow a recent audit of its contributions to the health ministry. Among others, the ministry was accused of mishandling procurements under the Global Fund grant.”
IPPR's latest edition of its Procurement Tracker noted that, at the time of publication, the health ministry had yet to issue a comprehensive official response to the Global Fund accusations.
Lack of transparency
Frederico Links, a researcher at IPPR, stated that a lack of transparency in Namibian ministries and companies could lead to increased corruption in the country.
"There are about 190 public entities with a procurement function. All of these entities have to submit an annual procurement plan to the Procurement Policy Unit (PPU), which then publishes the plan on the e-procurement portal.”
Links found that by 23 August only 53 annual procurement plans were viewable via the e-procurement portal.
"That means only about 28% of public entities have submitted their plans to the PPU so far into the 2023/24 financial year."
The most downloaded plan is that of the health ministry, with 480 downloads, followed by the Omusati Regional Council, with 430 downloads, he said.
Not tracking
The ministry earlier this year faced controversies surrounding the clinical and pharmaceutical supplies tenders handled by the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN), according to Links.
He highlighted that much of the criticism of the ministry "appears to be well-founded".
"At the time that the clinical supplies tender (G/OAB/CPBN02/2022) was a public relations headache for the ministry and the CPBN, Procurement Tracker Namibia reported that one of the aspects of the controversy that also raised questions was that the final cost of the tender did not correspond to the estimated amount budgeted for clinical supplies in the health ministry's annual procurement plan for 2022/23," he said.
Bare necessities
Furthermore, the IPPR tracker revealed that according to a revised executive summary of the bid evaluation report, in May, the estimated cost of the tender was N$1.4 billion; however, "the notification of award of this tender only happened on 3 August 2023, following a review panel consideration of the award."
Links added: "Even though this tender was initiated in the 2022/23 financial year, it was awarded in the 2023/24 financial year. According to the 2022/23 annual procurement plan of the health ministry, roughly N$900 million had been allocated for procurement and supply of pharmaceuticals."
In addition, for the financial year 2023-2024, the ministry's procurement plan indicates that an estimated amount of N$543 million was established for the mere procurement of pharmaceutical products over three years. Yet, the ministry estimated that it would need at least N$600 million for that same financial year, which is N$57 million more than the plan indicated.
"A lot of public entities are only producing procurement plans because they have to and barely revisit it thereafter. Boards and ministers don't know what are in these plans, and they don't even sign them off, so they are not holding their partners accountable for the procurements," Links noted.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article