Foreign company to evaluate national lottery bids
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday February 22, 2019 14:46
The company will act as transaction advisors who will evaluate the National Lottery Bids.
Goya said while it is government’s intention to have such tenders awarded to citizen-owned companies, they opted for a single sourcing tender as they wanted a company with experience in the lottery field.
He said the Board approved the company. Goya was responding to a question asked by Member of Parliament for Selebi-Phikwe West, Dithapelo Keorapetse, who had asked the minister to state whether there was a company engaged to adjudicate on lottery licensing and when the tender invitation was floated in local or international media and the number of companies that responded.
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) legislator also asked whether the company that has been appointed was citizen-owned and if not, to state the special skills possessed by its manpower.
“Were there no local companies with expertise to do the same job so that you reduce payment and build capacity locally?” asked Keorapetse.
In response, Goya said lottery is a new business in Botswana; as such they had to engage renowned companies to do the job while locals are simultaneously capacitated.
He further explained that the Gambling Authority has also engaged a local firm of auditors to be the independent external assurance providers of the entire process.
He indicated that in future, local companies would be considered for this tender.
“The company was appointed on a single sourcing method and was approved by the board.
This is in line with section 3.2.7 of the Gambling Authority Procurement Policy on single or direct appointment. It should be pointed out that this policy was vetted by the Public Procurement Asset Disposal Board,” explained Goya.
He said the company has expertise in Electronic Law, National Lottery evaluation and has undertaken extensive gambling consultancy work.
“These are all integral in the evaluation and adjudication of lottery bids,” he added.
Goya stated that they sought assistance from other gambling authorities across the world to find a suitable company to adjudicate on lottery licensing.
The Gambling Authority was established in 2012 following the enactment of the Gambling Bill to oversee gambling, and regulate and control the development of gambling establishments in the country.