Shangula’s health tender headache

Health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula has agonised over how delays in health tenders, including the N$1.7 billion clinical supplies tender that was first initiated in August 2021, have pushed the public health sector to the verge of a crisis.

The tender, in which 419 critical items are needed, is set to transcend into a fourth year amid a litany of cancellations and court challenges.

The ministry first submitted a bid to the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) in August 2021. The bid evaluation committee’s report was only adjudicated more than a year later, on 21 December 2022. Only on 11 January 2023 did CPBN issue an award selection notice.

For the remainder of this year, the tender has been the subject of an unending tug-of-war, including court challenges and appeals. As matters stand, it could enter 2024 unresolved – to the chagrin of Shangula, who bemoaned the process in parliament last week.

“As it now stands, indications are that no long-term tender is likely to be finalised by CPBN this year. As such, no long-term contracts will be in place and thus interim measures will continue,” the minister told fellow lawmakers last Thursday.

He added: “It has become clear that the implementation of the Public Procurement Act has significantly impacted the availability of medicines and clinical supplies. The procurement of medicines in Namibia has become a lengthy, cumbersome process”.

“This has compelled the ministry to engage in highly costly emergency procurement and buyouts for pharmaceuticals and clinical items,” he said.

Uncertainty, shortages

About 85% of Namibians depend on state-funded healthcare services, provided through a network of public clinics, health centres, district hospitals, intermediate hospitals and referral hospitals.

There are more than 1 500 outreach points.

Shangula said because of the delays, the ministry is now grappling with uncertainty and shortages of clinical supplies such as gloves, condoms and surgery and intensive care unit (ICU) items, amongst others.

This is because the ministry can only do direct procurement – without going through CPBN – for items worth a maximum of N$25 million.

The ministry, through CPBN, has a new clinical supplies bid out for six months, worth N$67.5 million, which is only likely to be awarded in 2024.

The country’s annual clinical supplies demand forecast stands at around N$1.7 billion.

Selfishness and desperation

CPBN acting chairperson Amon Ngavetene said the delay in concluding tender processes lies with bidders themselves, and not with agencies of the state.

“One thing that is very clear is that there is nothing wrong with the institution that is running these [tenders]. The issue now is more on bidders, who - when the outcome is not in their favour - try to pull every trick in the book to delay and see if they can overturn the outcome of the process or get a second chance."

He added: “For some of them, it is out of mere bitterness. We have demonstrated very clearly now that what the public has been thinking about the board [CPBN] [is] that it’s running corrupt processes, [but] if you look at all the procurement processes that have been challenged so far, the issue of irregularities and malpractices is really not coming out".

“The challenges are all about interpretations or the evaluation criteria used to disqualify a particular bidder and the bidder will by all means try to interpret the criteria differently. It is always about that or about the evidence the bidder has submitted," Ngavetene said.

“I think it is high time that the media also shift their focus towards the conduct of bidders who, out of selfishness and desperation, want to frustrate the procurement process.”

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