BT Critical Power appeals to Administrative Court

his application that Nyamezela Pvt Ltd of South Africa was awarded the tender to work in five regions, when the specifications were that a company would be given a maximum of three regions.
Sources said another company that won a tender did not meet the specifications. The Anti-Corruption Commission has also started investigating the SPB and Zesa over the issue.
According to tender instructions, no tenderer was allowed to bid for more than three Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company regions. But the SPB awarded tenders to four companies, including Nyamezela Pvt Ltd, which was awarded a tender to install the meters in five regions.
It is the only company that was given such treatment out of the four that won the tender. BT Critical Power cited the SPB as the first respondent, ZETDC as the second respondent, while Nyamezele is the third respondent. Nyamezela Pvt Ltd was awarded a tender to supply 265 000 prepaid meters at a cost of US$136,50 per unit, while BT Critical charged US$59 per unit.
“The decision of the first respondent was irrational and or biased in that it was indicated that the tender was awarded to the lowest bidder to specification by unit cost and lot,” read the application that was filed on Tuesday last week.
“The bid of the third respondent was much higher at a cost of US$136,50 per unit compared to the bid of the appellant which was US$59 per unit.” BT Critical Power said the decision by the SPB was irrational and or biased in that the tender stipulated that a bidder could only bid for a maximum of three regions. Yet Nyamezele was allowed to bid for all five regions and was awarded the tender.
“The decision of the first respondent was irrational and or biased in that it awarded the tender to third respondent which is a foreign company without regard to the fact that Section 20 of the Procurement Regulations (Statutory Instrument 171 of 2002) states that local bidders are to be given a 10 percent over foreign bidders,” said BT Critical Power.
ZEDTC is also accused of changing specifications to allegedly meet Nyamezele bidding documents contrary to the tender requirements.
The Affirmative Action Group has since called upon SPB to correct the anomaly. In a letter directed at the SPB, AAG chief executive officer, Dr Davison Gomo said the tender procedure had been violated.
“One company that was awarded the tender quoted for more than five lots and got all of them in spite of the clear conditions laid down on the procedure document,” Dr Gomo said.
“Another fundamental condition that was blatantly overlooked was the fact that the tender should have been ideally awarded to the lowest price to specification, but again despite our member (BT Critical Power) tendering the lowest price by a wide margin, you still went on to make a decision against them in violation of your own rules.”
Dr Gomo said as a black empowerment pressure group, AAG found the inconsistencies in the awarding of the tender worrying. He said the fact that the SPB had chosen to award a tender to a foreign firm totally ignoring the fact that their price was a lot higher than tendered by an indigenous firm was sufficient ground for concern. This is not the first time that tenders involving the power utility have courted controversy.
Last year, two managers at Zesa allegedly manipulated the tender pro-cess for the supply of 5,5 million energy saver bulbs to favour a specific bidder. The power utility reportedly granted an Indian firm, PME Electronics, through Zesa Enterprises, the nod to supply 1,25 million bulbs without going to tender.
Two Zesa engineers allegedly cau-sed the cancellation of the tender in July after meeting representatives of an Egyptian Company, Elsewedy Electric.