Psemas tender at vetting stage
The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) is currently vetting the Standard Bidding Document (SBD) for the tender for the provision of medical aid services to government employees.
This is according to the board's spokesperson, Johanna Kambala.
The issuance of a tender to a service provider will determine who will administer the Public Service Medical Aid Scheme (Psemas) which has been with one company, Methealth Namibia Administrators, for close to 17 years.
The term of the current service provider was due to expire earlier this year but was extended to March 2020 by the Board.
Providing an update on the tender, Kambala said the Board would only advertise the tender bid once the SBD had been approved.
“The SBD is currently under pre-vetting by the administration of CPBN before it is submitted to the Board for vetting and subsequent approval. Hence, this bid will only be advertised once the Board has approved the SBD,” Kambala said.
She did not provide any indication as to how long the vetting process would take.
According to her, the ministry of finance only submitted the SBD on 23 August 2019.
Kambala said the Individual Procurement Plan (IPP) had to be submitted due to shortcomings to the CPBN.
“The Individual Procurement Plan of the ministry of finance (Psemas) was submitted to CPBN for approval on 8 May 2019, upon which the ministry was informed to resubmit the IPP due to shortcomings detected in the submission,” Kambala said.
“The ministry resubmitted the IPP on 23 August 2019 and the Board approved the IPP on 5 September 2019, which concludes the IPP approval process,” she added.
When approached for comment, ministry of finance spokesperson Tonateni Shidhudhu said the bid was above the ministry's threshold, indicating that the CPB would be left to make a decision.
“The tender is above the threshold of the public entity (ministry of finance). The documents have been sent to the CPBN to take the process forward from advertisement to award. In a nutshell, we have finalised everything and handed it over to CPBN,” said Shidhudhu.
The tender bid for the 200 000-member medical aid scheme has been administered by Methealth Namibia Administrators since 2004 following its merger with Namhealth Administrators in that same year.
The medical aid scheme falls under the budget of the finance ministry, while N$2.8 billion was allocated for Psemas for the 2019/20 fiscal year.
The International Monetary Fund in December 2018 noted that the fund had received approximately N$7 billion from the government since 2016.
OGONE TLHAGE
This is according to the board's spokesperson, Johanna Kambala.
The issuance of a tender to a service provider will determine who will administer the Public Service Medical Aid Scheme (Psemas) which has been with one company, Methealth Namibia Administrators, for close to 17 years.
The term of the current service provider was due to expire earlier this year but was extended to March 2020 by the Board.
Providing an update on the tender, Kambala said the Board would only advertise the tender bid once the SBD had been approved.
“The SBD is currently under pre-vetting by the administration of CPBN before it is submitted to the Board for vetting and subsequent approval. Hence, this bid will only be advertised once the Board has approved the SBD,” Kambala said.
She did not provide any indication as to how long the vetting process would take.
According to her, the ministry of finance only submitted the SBD on 23 August 2019.
Kambala said the Individual Procurement Plan (IPP) had to be submitted due to shortcomings to the CPBN.
“The Individual Procurement Plan of the ministry of finance (Psemas) was submitted to CPBN for approval on 8 May 2019, upon which the ministry was informed to resubmit the IPP due to shortcomings detected in the submission,” Kambala said.
“The ministry resubmitted the IPP on 23 August 2019 and the Board approved the IPP on 5 September 2019, which concludes the IPP approval process,” she added.
When approached for comment, ministry of finance spokesperson Tonateni Shidhudhu said the bid was above the ministry's threshold, indicating that the CPB would be left to make a decision.
“The tender is above the threshold of the public entity (ministry of finance). The documents have been sent to the CPBN to take the process forward from advertisement to award. In a nutshell, we have finalised everything and handed it over to CPBN,” said Shidhudhu.
The tender bid for the 200 000-member medical aid scheme has been administered by Methealth Namibia Administrators since 2004 following its merger with Namhealth Administrators in that same year.
The medical aid scheme falls under the budget of the finance ministry, while N$2.8 billion was allocated for Psemas for the 2019/20 fiscal year.
The International Monetary Fund in December 2018 noted that the fund had received approximately N$7 billion from the government since 2016.
OGONE TLHAGE
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