The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has pointed out major red flags in government’s procurement processes during the first 3 months of the state of emergency.The red flags hinge around short tender periods, few or no contracts awarded competitively and unclear or inaccessible company registrations.
The Ministry of Health and social services and the office of the president were amongst the OMAs mentioned.
IPPR researcher Frederico Links said the short tender periods could be an indication that the procurement action is being manipulated to favour one supplier.
Similarly, Links also said the few to one bidder could also show that there was an attempt to manipulate the award to favour a specific contractor.
Over 200 of the ministry of health’s procurement actions were done through direct and emergency procurement while 140 were done through the ‘executed by the public entity’, informal quotations or requests for quotations.
IPPR’s report shows that none of the actions was conducted through open and competitive bidding processes.
On the side of the companies who have been benefiting from government contracts during the state of emergency between late March and September, no information was found of 13 companies while files of 6 were missing.
50% of the 40 companies the IPPR randomly selected to research, delivered no company registration information.
