CPBN awarded tenders worth N$8.1 billion

The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) has announced that it awarded 32 procurement projects worth N$8.1 billion during the 2023/24 financial year, signalling a N$4.8 billion increase from the previous financial year.Of the total N$8.1 billion government tenders awarded over the last financial year, N$7.1 billion worth of work was awarded to Namibian companies, CPBN acting CEO Amon Ngavetene said.With regard to tenders awarded over the last financial year, N$7.2 billion worth of work was awarded through an open advertised bidding process, compared to N$2.2 billion for the previous financial year. The increased value of individual procurement plans from government ministries - at N$932 million in 2022/2023 compared to N$2.4 billion for 2023/2024 - was also highlighted as one of the major improvements.The CPBN&#039;s biggest clients remain the ministries of health and education, NamWater and the Roads Authority. Medicine shortagesMeanwhile, while addressing the media at a press conference yesterday, Ngaventene rejected allegations that the CPBN&#039;s alleged tedious procurement processes are the reason why public health facilities have been experiencing huge medicine shortages for several years.According to the health ministry’s latest audit report for the 2022/23 financial year, N$23 million worth of emergency purchases for pharmaceutical products were still outstanding after the ministry had apparently been waiting for the CPBN since 2017 to finalise its procurement processes. The ministry said the situation has inevitably led to continuous medicine shortages that put the lives of patients at risk. The ministry&#039;s limit is N$25 million for purchases.Due to the challenges in awarding these long-term contracts, the ministry is reportedly at the mercy of a cycle of expensive emergency purchases to ensure clinics and hospitals have supplies. Consideration is now being given to exempt the health ministry from the restrictions of the procurement law.However, Ngavetene has questioned whether this narrative is credible. "We have never received a procurement application from the health ministry to exterminate mice and cats from hospitals. Why do they still have this problem, if everything can be blamed on the CPBN?" he wanted to know.Challenged at every stageNgavetene admitted that the procurement process is very litigious, and can be challenged at every stage. "However, the truth of the matter is that for every health procurement where we are challenged, whether at review panel level or in the High Court, the ministry and the CPBN always come forward with remedial action, which then allows the ministry to do short-term procurement so that we are not completely out of stock of essential medicines at hospitals. “With the cancellation of the pharmaceutical tender, we made a short-term, six-month acquisition to fill the gap. At the same time, the ministry was allowed to make a procurement for 12 months to fill the gap for pharmaceutical products. The tender is still stuck in the High Court. We await the verdict on 31 May," he said."But they can&#039;t say they don&#039;t have anything [medicine] now because of the procurement processes," he insisted. "They just have to answer for themselves about what takes place in that space," Ngavetene added.

CPBN awarded tenders worth N$8.1 billion

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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CPBN awarded tenders worth N$8.1 billion

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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