Procurement remains too secretive
A research report slams government agencies, particularly the finance ministry as regulator, for not making information about public tenders available on their websites as required by law.
The integrity of Namibia's public procurement system is undercut by a widespread lack of transparency and accountability, leading to serious concerns that state tenders remain vulnerable to corruption.
The third issue of the Procurement Tracker Namibia (PTN), an initiative of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), released yesterday, concluded that a survey of government websites found that “most government ministries do not appear to be making an effort to be transparent with contracting, as evidenced by what information is available through their websites,” a direct flouting of the public procurement law.
According to Act, public entities must produce and publicly share annual procurement plans online, and the finance ministry's procurement policy unit is tasked to duplicate those plans on the ministry's website.
The PTN cautions that while the law “is heavy in spirit on transparency and accountability, in practice it is increasingly clear that these principles are not yet valued in the emergency procurement system”.
A survey found that 29 ministries invited bids on 245 procurement initiatives for the 2018/19 financial year online, in line with the law, and of those, the bulk, 165 tenders, belonged to the health and social services ministry.
Moreover, for 11 out of the 29 ministries and offices surveyed, “there is simply no procurement information available on their websites or through other sources, such as the Market Namibia and Tender Bulletin,” IPPR research associate Frederico Links, who compiled the PTN, states in the report.
He adds that while the education ministry “appears to have issued seven procurement calls for the financial year, none of these appear on their website”, and while at least three calls resulted in contracts being awarded, there is no information about when the call was announced, whether the contract was awarded, and what the bid value was.
Even the finance ministry, as the custodian of the procurement system, does not have such information available on its website.
“The ministry appears to have listed three procurement initiatives this financial year, but the information is not available on its website and was only traceable in Market Namibia and Tender Bulletin.”
One of the main culprits is the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN), which has been “struggling to establish itself on the intent”, the PTN team found.
Although a second website was launched, there has been no improvement in terms of information, the PTN notes. This is problematic, Links said, as the institution should lead by example and the fact that its own website contains incomplete information “is not conducive to engendering openness, and certainly does not meet the standards proposed by the procurement law in terms of transparency and accountability.” This trend, Links says, is widespread.
Non-compliance
The PTN notes that the lack of information matters because no one, including the public or potential contractors, is able to get an accurate idea of what's happening in the public procurement system and while ministerial websites should be the first port of call, they are often of no use. The issue of lack of information could be “symptomatic of a system which is significantly dysfunctional and indicates that government ministries and offices still have not adopted the principles of transparency and accountability in public procurement in how they manage internal processes.”
The mishandling of procurement plans should raise “serious red flags”, Links states.
He says this is “immensely worrying and an accountability threat to the entire procurement system, as well as substantially undermining the transparency principles of the Public Procurement Act”.
A part of the problem, the researchers note, is the lack of regulations stipulating timeframes in which procurement plans have to be submitted to the procurement policy unit in the finance ministry.
Overall, the lack of oversight and stricter regulations leads to a situation “where nobody can truly be held accountable for not producing or submitting such plans”.
Nevertheless, the stated aim of the Act, which is “ostensibly to establish and enhance good governance and integrity in public procurement in order to ensure effective and efficient management of government resources and assets,” is undermined by those continually ignoring the law, with little fear of being held accountable.
JANA-MARI SMITH
The third issue of the Procurement Tracker Namibia (PTN), an initiative of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), released yesterday, concluded that a survey of government websites found that “most government ministries do not appear to be making an effort to be transparent with contracting, as evidenced by what information is available through their websites,” a direct flouting of the public procurement law.
According to Act, public entities must produce and publicly share annual procurement plans online, and the finance ministry's procurement policy unit is tasked to duplicate those plans on the ministry's website.
The PTN cautions that while the law “is heavy in spirit on transparency and accountability, in practice it is increasingly clear that these principles are not yet valued in the emergency procurement system”.
A survey found that 29 ministries invited bids on 245 procurement initiatives for the 2018/19 financial year online, in line with the law, and of those, the bulk, 165 tenders, belonged to the health and social services ministry.
Moreover, for 11 out of the 29 ministries and offices surveyed, “there is simply no procurement information available on their websites or through other sources, such as the Market Namibia and Tender Bulletin,” IPPR research associate Frederico Links, who compiled the PTN, states in the report.
He adds that while the education ministry “appears to have issued seven procurement calls for the financial year, none of these appear on their website”, and while at least three calls resulted in contracts being awarded, there is no information about when the call was announced, whether the contract was awarded, and what the bid value was.
Even the finance ministry, as the custodian of the procurement system, does not have such information available on its website.
“The ministry appears to have listed three procurement initiatives this financial year, but the information is not available on its website and was only traceable in Market Namibia and Tender Bulletin.”
One of the main culprits is the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN), which has been “struggling to establish itself on the intent”, the PTN team found.
Although a second website was launched, there has been no improvement in terms of information, the PTN notes. This is problematic, Links said, as the institution should lead by example and the fact that its own website contains incomplete information “is not conducive to engendering openness, and certainly does not meet the standards proposed by the procurement law in terms of transparency and accountability.” This trend, Links says, is widespread.
Non-compliance
The PTN notes that the lack of information matters because no one, including the public or potential contractors, is able to get an accurate idea of what's happening in the public procurement system and while ministerial websites should be the first port of call, they are often of no use. The issue of lack of information could be “symptomatic of a system which is significantly dysfunctional and indicates that government ministries and offices still have not adopted the principles of transparency and accountability in public procurement in how they manage internal processes.”
The mishandling of procurement plans should raise “serious red flags”, Links states.
He says this is “immensely worrying and an accountability threat to the entire procurement system, as well as substantially undermining the transparency principles of the Public Procurement Act”.
A part of the problem, the researchers note, is the lack of regulations stipulating timeframes in which procurement plans have to be submitted to the procurement policy unit in the finance ministry.
Overall, the lack of oversight and stricter regulations leads to a situation “where nobody can truly be held accountable for not producing or submitting such plans”.
Nevertheless, the stated aim of the Act, which is “ostensibly to establish and enhance good governance and integrity in public procurement in order to ensure effective and efficient management of government resources and assets,” is undermined by those continually ignoring the law, with little fear of being held accountable.
JANA-MARI SMITH
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