Losing bidder questions N$39m govt IT contract figures

Silnam IT Solutions claims that the figures announced during bidding for a five-year government financial management system maintenance and upgrade contract do not match those used to award the N$39.1 million tender to a joint venture involving a Dubai-based company.The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) selected a joint venture between Syntex Information Technologies and Catalyst Business Partners LLC for the contract on behalf of the finance ministry.Silnam challenged the award before the public procurement review panel, which dismissed its application on 28 October and upheld CPBN's decision.The panel found no evidence that the bid evaluation committee had substituted different financial amounts or departed from the prescribed evaluation method.Silnam, which implemented the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) and has maintained it for nearly 20 years, told Namibian Sun that, according to their records, Syntex's financial proposal was announced at approximately N$67.46 million during the opening of bids on 15 September.According to notes taken by Silnam representatives who attended the opening, Syntex's proposal allegedly included approximately N$34 million in remuneration and N$33.46 million in reimbursable expenses.Silnam's recorded proposal was N$630 000 per month, equivalent to N$37.8 million over five years.The company argues that the figures announced at the opening do not reconcile with the N$39.1 million contract subsequently awarded to Syntex-Catalyst.Figures inaccurate, CPBN saysCPBN disputes Silnam's account, saying Syntex's reimbursable expenses amounted to N$540 000, not N$33.46 million, and that the joint venture submitted the lowest-priced financial proposal.In a letter dated 8 October, CPBN chief executive officer Idi Itope rejected Silnam's application for reconsideration.CPBN said the official Record of the Opening of Financial Proposals also reflected N$540 000 in reimbursable expenses.The board maintained that the bid evaluation committee assessed the financial proposals using Form FIN-2, which formed part of each bidder's submission, and considered both remuneration and reimbursable expenses when determining the lowest-priced proposal.“The documentary record therefore does not support the contention that an amount of N$33.46 million was read out or submitted in respect of Syntex’s reimbursable expenses,” Itope wrote.CPBN maintained that Syntex-Catalyst's financial proposal was the lowest and declined to change its selection decision.Review panel dismisses challengeSilnam scored higher than Syntex-Catalyst in the technical evaluation but lost the contract following the financial assessment.The CPBN evaluation summary shows that Silnam scored 138 points, equivalent to 99%, while Syntex-Catalyst scored 105 points, or 75%.Two other bidders, RPC Data and Cloud Namibia, were disqualified during the preliminary evaluation, leaving Silnam and Syntex-Catalyst as the two responsive bidders.The public procurement review panel said Silnam's representative had been given an opportunity during the hearing to examine the winning joint venture's financial proposal and had confirmed seeing the figures recorded in the document.The panel distinguished between the announcement of amounts during the public opening and the subsequent evaluation of financial proposals using the prescribed documents.“On the evidence before it, the panel is not satisfied that the asserted difference in the announcement at opening established a material irregularity affecting the financial evaluation or the selection decision,” it ruled.Silnam questions evidenceSilnam co-owner Reinhold Xoagub maintains that the alleged discrepancy was not adequately investigated and questions whether all the relevant evidence was considered.“The basis for the selection for award to Syntex is not reconciling with what was read at the public opening of the financial proposals,” he said.Xoagub claimed that the panel had not examined the original USB submitted as evidence, the work schedule for foreign-based personnel or all the financial proposal forms needed to verify reimbursable expenses over the five-year contract.He also questioned the absence of confirmatory affidavits from the person who announced the financial bids and representatives of Syntex and Catalyst.“The N$540 000 recorded by CPBN as reimbursable expenses over five years is unrealistic if the joint venture intends to use personnel from Egypt and India,” Xoagub told Namibian Sun.According to Xoagub, the IFMS support contract requires personnel to be based in Namibia, with only the database administrator permitted to work offshore.He argues that the use of personnel from Egypt and India raises questions about whether the reimbursable expenses recorded by CPBN adequately reflect the costs of delivering the contract over five years.Silnam has engaged lawyers Ellis Shilengundwa Incorporated to challenge the circumstances surrounding the procurement decision.The company is 74% owned by the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (Nida), while Xoagub holds the remaining 26%.Silnam implemented the IFMS for the finance ministry between 2003 and 2005. Questions sent to Syntex general manager Jean-Baptiste Blanc on Thursday had not been answered by the time of publication.

Losing bidder questions N$39m govt IT contract figures

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Namibian Sun 2026-11-06

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Losing bidder questions N$39m govt IT contract figures

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Namibian Sun 2026-11-06

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