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Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
THE Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) has introduced standard bidding documents for use by all public procuring entities as part of its efforts to ensure transparency, uniformity and contain costs.
The standard bidding documents have been introduced in terms of section 6(1) of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act chapter (22:23), which requires PRAZ to prepare standard documents and templates to be used in public procurement.
Officially opening a two-day workshop for officials from Government departments, parastatals and local authorities in Bulawayo yesterday, PRAZ chief executive officer Mr Nyasha Chizu said the introduction of the bidding documents is part of the country’s vision to turn Zimbabwe into an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
“President Mnangagwa’s 2030 vision implies that public procurement entities have to be efficient and effective in public service delivery. One of the tools for efficiency is public procurement. We therefore have a new Public Procurement Disposal of Public Assets Act which regulates public procurement.
“One of the objectives of the Act is to ensure that public procurement is conducted in a manner that is transparent, fair, cost effective and competitive in order to achieve value for money,” said Mr Chizu.
He said procuring entities have been inconsistent in presenting requirements to the public sector, which in some cases would be designed to suit certain individuals at the expense of competition, fairness and transparency.
“This Act provides that the regulator, which is the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ), issues standard bidding documents. This is best practice and it’s applied internationally.
“It also makes the market aware in terms of the style of our requirement and the manner in which we evaluate our tenders.
“When we’ve got standard tender documents we’re increasing competition in the public sector because our bidding community knows our requirements.
We’re also sensitising the private sector in terms of the procurement requirements,” said Mr Chizu.
He said PRAZ also intends to run capacity building workshops on the changes that have been introduced as well as technical workshops to assist procuring entities to be effective and achieve the President’s 2030 vision.
Mr Chizu introduced five documents which include standard bidding documents for the procurement of goods, standard bidding documents for the procurement of non-complex works and standard request for expression of interest for the selection of consultancy services.
He also introduced the standard request for proposals for the selection of consultancy services and the standard bidding document for the procurement of non-consulting services.
He implored all public entities to play their role in the achieving the objectives of the new Act.— @pamelashumba1
Online Reporter