PPADB declines to pay for ‘irregular’ MoHW tender
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday November 1, 2021 06:00
This follows the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB's) rejection of a retroactive appointment of the company which was to be paid P421,894.48 for work done from October 28, 2020 to November 10, 2020.
This translates to just over P35,157.00 per day. While the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) stated that there is nothing amiss with the arraangement, PPADB said it rejected the award due to irregularities. According to a notice from PPADB, the application was submitted by the Ministry on October 18, 2021 and a decision to not approve was made on October 21, 2021. Responding to a questionnaire from Mmegi, PPADB said the tender was not urgent and necessary hence the non approval. “In terms of Section 44 (2) and (3) of the PPADB Act as read with Section 3 of the PPADB (Retroactive Approvals) Order of 2012, the Board may by resolution approve, retroactively, a bid or invitation to tender issued by a procuring or a disposing entity where the job to be performed by a selected contractor or the service to be provided by a selected service provider is urgent and necessary: (a) to protect life; or (b) to protect the environment. In the matter at hand, the request for retroactive approval is not in line with the above cited provisions,” PPADB Public Relations and Education Manager Charles Keikotlhae said.
Keikotlhae said they were unable to comment on the issue of suspicion of corruption, however, he confirmed that the service provider was engaged without following proper procurement procedures in that the approval by the Adjudication Committee was not sought prior to the engagement of the service provider. “The Board has, however, cautioned the Procuring Entity (PE) from engaging service providers without following due procurement process. It is to be noted that the PE when submitting the request for retroactive approval, it informed the Board that it was taking necessary action against those involved in flouting the procurement process,” he said.
He further said at the time that the Board handled the matter on October 21, 2021, the company had not yet been paid. “The request for retroactive approval was meant to facilitate payment. Following the disapproval of the request by the Board, the procuring entity was referred to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to facilitate payment.
The prerogative to effect payment for procurements that have failed to meet requirements under the above cited provisions of the PPADB Act lies with the said Ministry,” he said. MoHW said there was no wrong in the procurement. “Randpacked (Pty) Ltd was appointed to collect clinical waste and not domestic waste, at the Kgatleng DHMT area, through a normal competitive bidding process. However, at the time the service provider finished the job, the waste had accumulated beyond the threshold amount that the DHMT was allowed to pay. As a result, a request was made to PPADB for retroactive approval, in order to allow the ministry through the DHMT to pay the service provider for the service rendered,” chief public relations officer Christopher Nyanga said. On what are the implications of non approval by the PPADB, Nyanga said since the services were rendered and there is no dispute about it, the ministry has since engaged the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for facilitation, to get the service provider paid. Contacted for a comment, Randpacked director Kabo Kebaswele said he was hopeful that he would be paid soon.
“I have been waiting for a year as I was told there were no funds. Upon learning that their request was not approved at PPADB, I contacted them and they told me that was because the money has already been allocated to the Kgatleng DHMT and I am hopeful I will get my payment soon,” he said. Quizzed on how he got the tender, Kebaswele said he had submitted a bid alongside other companies and got the award.