Bipa scraps N$10m office tender after bidder challenge

The Business and Intellectual Property Authority (Bipa) has cancelled its N$10.3 million office tender after an unsuccessful bidder challenged the award, alleging conflicts of interest involving consultants overseeing the procurement.

Bipa had appointed Marley Tjitjo Architects as consultants on the proposed office development, including the design of the new offices, documents show.

In an 18 June letter to Bipa, one of the bidders, Be-Tech Investments, claimed that Marley Tjitjo was involved in evaluating the bids and had prior dealings with the successful bidder, Urban Engineering CC.

Be-Tech also alleged bid tampering and other procurement irregularities that it said had compromised the tender's integrity.

“The bid evaluation committee (BEC) that conducted the evaluation consisted of consultants from Marley Tjitjo Architects," the letter noted.

"Were the consultants’ appointments made in compliance with Section 26 of the Public Procurement Act and approved by the Procurement Policy Unit (PPU) as required by the Act?”

Be-Tech also asked whether the accounting officer was aware “that the consultants used herein have an established working relationship with one of the partners to the joint venture of 'Urban Engineering CC JV Venmart Investment CC' that was selected for award, namely, Urban Engineering CC?”

A total of 13 companies submitted bids for the Bipa office development project.

They were Urban Engineering CC JV Venmart Investment CC, Be-Tech Investments CC, NDC Construction CC, Nexus Building Contractor CC, Auget Investment CC, MSH Trading Enterprises CC, Lewcor Construction Namibia (Pty) Ltd, Zebra Investments CC, MVA Fund Construction JV, Dynamic Builders CC, Otesa Civil Engineering (Pty) Ltd, CMC Construction Namibia (Pty) Ltd, and China Jiangxi International Namibia (Pty) Ltd.

“We consider it strange that out of all 13 bids, only Urban Engineering CC was found to be responsive by the BEC. Please read a newspaper article dated 22 September 2023 that talks about the relationship between Marley Tjitjo Architects and Urban Engineering CC,” Be-Tech wrote, adding that it is “just one example of several other projects they have worked on together”.

The article, published by New Era, reported that Urban Engineering had been awarded the contract to construct the Namibian College of Open Learning's (Namcol) new regional centre in Opuwo, while Marley Tjitjo Architects was appointed as the project's architect.

Be-Tech cited the project as evidence of a previous professional working relationship between the two firms.

‘Missing’ certificate

Be-Tech also accused Bipa of irregularly declaring its bid non-responsive after allegedly failing to submit a Social Security Commission good-standing certificate.

The company said the document formed part of its bid submission and questioned how it could later have been recorded as missing during the evaluation process.

“We dispute this allegation and submit that all the section 50 (2) mandatory documents were submitted. This includes the SSC Good Standing Certificate," Be-Tech wrote.

"We believe that our bid document was tampered with, either by the Procurement Management Unit (PMU) that received and submitted the bids to the BEC or by the BEC itself when it received the bids for evaluation.

“Our basis for this belief will be made clear in the subsequent submissions,” Be-Tech added.

The company said the alleged omission raises concerns about the integrity of the procurement process and called on Bipa to investigate what it described as possible tampering.

Bid cancelled after review

Bipa spokesperson Romancia Nyandoro confirmed to Namibian Sun yesterday that Be-Tech Investments’ application for reconsideration led to the review of the procurement process.

“The application for reconsideration submitted by Be-Tech Investments prompted a review of the procurement process in accordance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act,” Nyandoro said.

Bipa eventually concluded that cancelling the tender was necessary.

“Following that review, Bipa determined that it was best, in the interests of fairness, transparency and compliance, to cancel the procurement process,” Nyandoro said.

Bipa announced the decision to all bidders last week, on 23 July.

Nyandoro declined to comment on Be-Tech's allegations relating to bid tampering, the alleged omission of its Social Security Commission good-standing certificate, and claims of potential conflicts of interest.

“Bipa does not comment on allegations, claims, or matters that form part of ongoing review or reconsideration processes,” Nyandoro said.

She said Bipa plans to re-advertise the tender.