By Mama A. Touray
Ebrima Sanyang, Director of Procurement Policy and Operations at GPPA, has disclosed that KMC continued to use restricted tendering and the reasons the council provided for using it were not supported by the law.
He noted that the law is “very clear” over the conditions for restricted tendering.
Recently, Sanyang testified on Kanifing Municipal Council’s Digital Revenue Collection which, he said,) planned to upgrade its revenue collection system to digital revenue collecting system; the procurement of which requires GPPA’s approval.
He stated that it was left to KMC’s committee to discuss the project and agree on the procurement method, noting that the contracts committee held a meeting on 18 August 2020 via Zoom (virtual or online meeting) and discussed the model of revenue and profit- sharing model.
The GPPA’s procurement policy and operations directorrevealed that the former KMC CEO, Sainabou Martin-Sonkoduring the meeting, emphasized the urgency for the project. Sanyang said the contracts committee of KMC agreed on the specifications and it agreed to use a restricted tender.
He informed the commission that the form used by KMC was the wrong form and that council said it was to use a restricted tendering to get a suitable partner to upgrade their system.
He added: “On 22 October 2022, KMC wrote to GPPA seeking procurement approval. The form KMC used was not the form for the restricted tendering method. KMC used Form 005 instead of Form 002. Form 002 is for restricted tendering and is more suitable for goods and construction while Form 005 is a request for proposal, which is more suitable for services”.
It was discovered by Lead Counsel Yakarr Cox that the form KMC filled and submitted to GPPA only contained the signatures and not much information. The lead counsel, therefore, told the Sayang that KMC did not provide the reason for using restricted tender, to which Sanyang agreed. He stated that GPPA cannot provide the basis for the use of a restricted tender.
According to director Sayany, GPPA wrote back to KMC on 3 November 2022, indicating that the evaluation criteria did not specify the required qualification of the firm and requested KMC to make certain adjustments and resubmit the request for approval.
He stated that after resubmission, GPPA wrote back to KMC on 9 November 2020, indicating that the authority have approved the procurement.
“Did they provide the information that you requested on the 3 November 2020,”
Counsel Coxx asked Sanyang.
He responded: “I did not see that evidence.” “Why do you approve it then,” the lead counsel further asked but the witness responded that he did not know why GPPA approved the procurement.
According to the report, on 3 November 2020, GPPA did not approve the procurement but KMC was engaging the bidders on the procurement.
He adduced that it was wrong for KMC to engage the bidders as the right thing for the council to do under circumstance was to waited for GPPA’s approval before engaging the bidding companies.
“The companies that bided said KMC did not provide the technical specifications for contracts and they could not understand the bid document. ECO Tech did not file a complete bid and was accepted. Eco Tech said there are some anomalies in the procurement but to the surprise of other companies, KMC was dealing with Eco Tech. KMC decided to postpone the procurement in a view to provide more clarity on the specifications needed for the procurement,” Sanyang explained.
He said KMC on 14 December 2020, wrote to seek approval for a new bidding date but GPPA declined to approve the request, insisting that KMC must submit the bid evaluation report and a letter of the contracts committee meeting.
He revealed that KMC wrote back to GPPA and provided the requested information on 24 December 2020.
He said KMC proceeded to use restricted tendering after approval and that reasons provided for using this were not supported by the law. He testified that the law is “very clear” as to the conditions to be satisfied before using restricted tendering.