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\n<\/div>\nThe Public Procurement Authority (PPA) is investigating the circumstances surrounding the unexpected cancellation of the entire procurement process for purchasing life-saving snake anti-venom by the Health Ministry.<\/p>\n
The PPA, which is mandated to ensure value for money, efficiency and transparency in public procurement, according to B&FT sources requested all information pertaining to the tender in issue from the MoH, after various procurement breaches were brought to its attention by some of the companies participating in the tender process.<\/p>\n
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The Authority, the sources say, has now received the documents and is investigating issues of procurement breaches \u2013 double-bidding, price change after competitive bidding had closed, bid security manipulation, not meeting the additional qualification requirements \u2013 brought to its attention.<\/p>\n
Policy think tank Imani Africa raised the issues in a letter dated February 26, 2019, addressed to the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu titled\u00a0\u2018Still on Ineffective Anti-snake Serum & Procurement Breaches-Evidence Finally\u2019.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
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Imani in the letter argued that a major financial breach, in allowing Pharmanova to change its price after competitive tendering had closed, was just designed to skew the whole process in favour of one participant.<\/p>\n
Clause 27 and 30(1) of the Tender-document, as well as\u00a0Section 57 of the Public Procurement Act (Act 663 amended), gives the Ministry the right to\u00a0correct arithmetic errors detected during the evaluation process. In clause 27 it says, \u201cDuring\u00a0the evaluation of the tenders, the Purchaser may at its discretion ask the Tenderer for a\u00a0clarification of its tender\u201d. It further continues as \u201c\u2026 no change in the price or substance of\u00a0the tender shall be sought, offered or permitted, except to correct arithmetic errors identified\u00a0by the Purchaser in the evaluation of the tenders\u201d.<\/p>\n
Clause 30.1 clearly explains what an arithmetic error is and how it should be corrected:<\/p>\n
\u201cArithmetic errors will be rectified as follows: If there is a discrepancy between the unit price\u00a0and the total price that is obtained by multiplying the unit price and quantity, the unit or\u00a0sub-total price shall prevail. If there is a discrepancy between the sub-totals and the total price, the total price shall be corrected. If there is a discrepancy between words and figures, the\u00a0amount in words will prevail\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cTherefore, it is very clear how to deal with arithmetic errors when they occur. Based on the\u00a0evidence, it would seem that the Ministry of Health\u00a0instead asked the two Pharmanova companies to change their unit costs and total costs after\u00a0the public opening of the tender,\u201d Imani argued in its letter to the sector minister.<\/p>\n
Another major breach identified by Imani is the issue of double-bidding. \u201cTwo companies that submitted bids,\u201d Imani noted, \u201care actually one and the same company \u2013\u00a0meaning that there was double\/alternative bidding involved in this tender, which is\u00a0illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Background<\/b><\/p>\n
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Tenders for supply of the anti-venom serum were officially opened in August 2018, but the decision to award the contract for supply of same was delayed until December 2018 \u2013 as the Health Ministry schemed to award the contract to one particular participant whose product had been flagged by the World Health Organisation as lacking the required efficacy to treat snake-bite victims, according to B&FT sources.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health requested from the Central Tender Review Committee financial clearing for the Pharmanova Export Pvt Ltd. bid., which had a face value of US$3,100,000.<\/p>\n
As the various procurement breaches \u2013 double-bidding, price change after competitive bidding had closed, bid security manipulation, not meeting the additional qualification requirements \u2013 in the tender process on the part of the Health Ministry were brought to the fore by other companies who submitted bids, the Central Tender Review Committee cancelled the financial clearance for procurement of the vital anti-venom serum.<\/p>\n
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Rather than ratify breaches in the procurement process as identified and select a vendor with a potent serum that is registered by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), the MoH took a decision to cancel the entire procurement process altogether \u2013 because its favourite company couldn\u2019t win \u2013 leaving hard-working farmers and individuals at the mercy of snakes at a time when the hot weather between January and March is associated with significant snake-bites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n