According to Minister Onneetse Ramogapi, government will not take any action against Baipoledi as it awaits direction from the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) to act as the matter has been referred to it by the Procurement Tribunal. The Tribunal last month set aside the decision by Baipoledi, to award a water tender valued at P1.8 billion to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (Pty) Ltd and Zhong Gan Engineering & Construction Corporation (Pty) Ltd (collectively referred to as China Civil). The applicants in the matter, G4 Civils (Pty) Ltd, Landmark Projects (Pty) Ltd and Asphalt Botswana (Pty) Ltd collectively referred to as Tawana JV, stood aggrieved by the decision of the then Ministry of Lands and Water Affairs, not to award the JV Tender No. POU/ MLWA/ DTS/ NCOJANE WATER SUPPLY WORKS/ 0158/ 09102023, a Works Contract for Detailed Designs and Construction of Ghanzi South & Kgalagadi North Villages Water Supply Project.
The technical evaluation reports, however, revealed that China Civil should never have progressed to the financial evaluation stage, as they failed to meet the minimum threshold set for progression to the financial evaluation stage, on the criteria that required a minimum pass mark of 60% for each category evaluated. China Civil failed to meet the 60% threshold under category 1 of the technical evaluation criteria, twice. A re-evaluation had been ordered because of some concerns, however, it did not result in a pass mark for China Civil. In both instances, the evaluation team recommended that only Tawana JV proceed to the financial evaluation stage, a recommendation that was rejected by Baipoledi both times, with the support of the Director, of Procurement Oversight. At this stage, the Tribunal, with this revelation, decided to subpoena Baipoledi and the Director- of Procurement Oversight, to explain the patently irregular decisions made to override the clear outcome of the evaluation, of China Civil. The matter was set down for a third hearing, for the ministry to deal with issues emanating from the evaluation reports. Although the Tawana JV case was based on the financial evaluation stage, the Tribunal stated it could not close its eyes to the issues that suggested a pattern of illegality starting at the technical evaluation stage, tinted with the possibility of bias in favour of a bidder, which was not apparent until the evaluation report was produced. “After much prevarication, evasiveness and outright falsehoods, the Accounting Officer (Baipoledi) finally admitted that China Civil ought never to have proceeded to the financial evaluation stage, as they failed the technical evaluation criterion on a very simple arithmetic threshold,” the Tribunal states in their judgment.
