PPADB revises contractor registration system
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday January 22, 2016 15:58
The transition period is expected to give bidders an opportunity to convert or update their registration codes to the revised ones whilst at the same time participating in tendering.
According to PPADB’s public relations manager, Ditapole Tsheboeng they decided to develop and revise the existing codes after they realised that they were outdated and did not include other services.
“We decided to engage our stakeholders who included procuring entities and the bidding community where we held extensive consultations with them to address this issue,” she said.
In September 2014, the improved version of codes was approved by the PPADB following consultations.
During this transition, those who have been in the PPADB database will automatically be moved to the revised codes and a parallel approach on PPADB registration codes compliance requirement will be adopted during the tendering process where the old and revised codes at tendering will be applicable to avoid disadvantaging bidders with old codes who are yet to update registration to the revised code.
“We will be holding workshops across the country starting from next week to sensetise the public about this transition; get them to know how the transition period works and what they should expect,” said Tsheboeng, adding that they will be setting up an office in Francistown to help with this process.
In addition, she said an elaborate plan has since been developed to ensure a smooth transition during the six months transition period since afterwards they will not allow tenderers to use old codes when tendering.
Between February and March, PPADB will publish codes, which did not exist for contractors to apply for while in March they will publish the revised codes. In April, they will start issuing new certificates that will be generated by the system to those who bought the new codes.
Stakeholders have been urged to enquire from PPADB offices and make appointments to get their certificates to avoid disappointments and queues.
Last year, the PPADB also piloted the Integrated Procurement Management System (IPMS) to ensure efficiency and convenience to bidders, which is expected to be implemented this year but contractors were said to be shying away from using it.