Public Procurement Revision

01. Question

1.1the way of evaluating a bidder in a substantial competitive market for goods procurement

Evaluate a bidder

 bidder trustworthiness – substantial responsibility of the bidder /should be very honest and
reliable bidder/to get continues supply

Trustworthy bidder – he has the capacity/intention to sign an agreement/commitment/experience

 2.documents

What are the characteristics available in a goods market

1.2 What are the recommendation to increase the fit for purpose under the competitive selection/what
are the methods that can be used to reduced the risk in obtaining fit for purpose under the competitive
selection

CIDA web – Contract d

02. Question

Reduce the risk associated with work procurement

Selection of a contractor

Contract document

Procurement objectives

Fit for purpose

03 Question

Value for money in relation to international competitive bidding

 International competitive bidding

 Value for money

Under ICB huge cost involving and documentary preparation also very complex and very lengthy
process. So here we should consider cost savings and the level of quality in selecting the method.
If there is no any option or insufficient local market or local market is imperfect, ICB is only option that
can be used for as the method.

Incotrems/transporation/legal issues

What kind of things that you have to look in to achieving VFM

Discuss the VFM

How VFM connect to the selecting method

Why we selecting a good method?

1. fit for purpose

2. VFM – any single cents that we spent on purchasing should have a value.without value we should not
spent. Basically we should focussed achieving the objectives and its depend on couple of important
things which are quality and price. Compliance also important.

What are the problems that may arise under ICB under the current crisis?

Introduction to current cisis

Any option available other than ICB

Open market option

04 Questions

Marginalization of small traders.

How we can give an avenue to the small traders

What are the problems faced by small scale traders

What are the kind of resistance in our economy to stop the emerging small holder market.

05 Q

Bid opening process

06 Q
Consultancy procurement

Terms of references

How to make a good TOR to reduce the risk of not obtaining expected consultant or smotimes your
consultant is not match with your

Evaluation is most important part

07 Q

Public Private Partnership

Answers

01

1.1

The most common approach to bidding is to provide the same plans and specs to two
or more  contractors (typically three or four on a large project) and ask them for a fixed-
price bid. Each then submits a price and proposal and you select the winner. In most
cases, the owner selects the low bidder, but in some instances you would be wise to
choose another bidder. You might choose one of the middle bids if you believe you will
get better quality, a better schedule and completion date, or perhaps a better overall
experience based on what you learn from talking with references and your gut instincts.

You goal should be to find the lowest bidder that you trust will do the job to your
standards. Remember, the bid price is really just a starting point and the actual cost of
the project will almost always be higher. So saving 1 or 2 percent at the outset by going
with the low bidder can sometimes be false economy. The money is important, but
should not be your sole criteria.

In most things in life, we are willing to pay a little more for a better product or service.
On a big project, you will be working closely with the contractor over a period of months
to turn your vision into a real building. There are no guarantees here, but the promise a
smooth, stress-free project that comes out the way you want it may be work paying a
modest premium for.
As a procuring entity or official, very often we come across such a situation where some of the
bidders do not fully comply to the ‘technical specifications and other requirements’ given in the
bid document. In such a situation, we tend to reject such a bid. Is this right? If the answer is
‘Yes’, then the following viewpoint might be of your interest.

By putting ‘technical specifications’ of equipment and goods (let’s call it ‘product’) in the bid
document, we normally come forward with purchaser’s ‘minimum technical specification’
requirement, which the product should ‘substantially’ meet. We don’t expect bidders to quote
such a product, which ‘meet line-by-line’ to the ‘minimum technical specifications’. There could
be deviation as well which, if accepted may not compromise the normal functioning / usage of
the product.

Bidder’s compliance to bid document is a ‘notion’. It could be ‘full’, ‘substantial’ or ‘partial’. A

bidder could fall in to one of the three categories:

 ‘Fully Responsive / Fully Compliant’ means the bid submitted by a bidder is entirely in

accordance with the requirements and criteria given in the bid document.
 ‘Substantially Responsive / Substantially Compliant’ means the bid is ‘to a large
extent’ in accordance with the requirements / criteria given in the bid document. A bid
may be declared ‘substantially responsive’ when the bidder meets the requirements of the
bidding documents without material deviation, reservation, or omission.
 ‘Non-Responsive / Non-Compliant’ means the bidder has failed to comply with the
requirements and criteria given in bid document. A bid may be declared ‘Non-
Responsive’ only when it is with material deviation, reservation, or omission.

It is the responsibility of the person evaluating bids to carefully examine/evaluate all the bids
against the technical specifications and other requirements / criteria given in the bid document
and determine bids responsiveness in ‘three categories’ as above. Here comes the fine judgement
by the evaluating officer as to which deviation is to be treated as 'minor / acceptable' and which
is to be treated as 'major / non-acceptable'.

I have come across many cases, where evaluators of bid become so rigid that they overlook the
concept of ‘substantial responsiveness’ of bids. They either declare a bid as Responsive /
Qualified or Non-Responsive / Disqualified. Imagine such a scenario when we look forward to
such a bidder/product, which ‘fully’ meet the requirement. It could be the possibility, in the
wildest assumption, that the ‘specifications and other requirements’ as given in the bid
document, have been ‘tailored’ to suit a particular bidder.

Hope this post shall improve the ‘quality of evaluation of bids’ by practicing procurement
officials and thereby giving fair treatment to all bidders and enhancing competition.

03
International Competitive Bidding: This is one of the most appropriate methods of competitive bidding in
public procurement. The process entails the procurement entity to internationally advertise their requirement
of goods and services. In an internationally acceptable language. The contract is then awarded to the bidder
with the best bids and contract terms.
The procurement entity in such kind of arrangements enjoys a certain amount of freedom in selecting winning
bids for its projects. ICB procedures are normally employed for contracts with estimated values that exceed
thresholds set at the time of procurement plan preparation

Advantages of International Competitive Bidding:

It promotes competition between suppliers, resulting in best “value for money” for purchasers and users
It offers a kind of transparency and help avoid corruption and favouritism

It gives all suppliers the opportunity to win the business that is advertised

International Competitive Bidding enables effective competition and gives equal opportunities for businesses to
participate and win in government procurement activities.

This entry was posted in International competitive Bidding and tagged Government Tenders, ICB procedures,

Crisis

General Overview of the Sri Lankan Economic Crisis

Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented crisis due to economic mismanagement, corruption and an agricultural crisis.
For starters a series of policy miscalculations such as imposing tax cuts took a heavy toll on government revenues. This was
part of a populist agenda that was used to win the 2019 presidential election and the subsequent 2020 parliamentary
elections.
The cuts in taxes led to budget deficits soaring from 5% in 2020 to 15% in 2022. The bad monetary policies has led to
soaring inflation that has triggered unrest and protests as ordinary Sri Lankans are unable to bear the high cost of living.
What’s more the country is on the verge of bankruptcy, as the remaining foreign reserves of US$ 2.3 billion (As of March
2022) is not enough to pay its debts. The national inflation rate increased to 17.5% in February 2022.
Sri Lanka depends heavily on imports to meet its various needs such as petroleum, food, paper, sugar, lentils, medicines,
and transportation equipment, among other essential items.
A lack of foreign currency means the country does not have the money to buy (import) these commodities.
The economic crisis is accompanied by a severe food shortage. There was a rise in food prices that was caused by
depreciation in currency. It forced the government on August 31, 2022 to impose an economic emergency. It gave the
authorities the following powers:

 Right to seize food stocks designated as staple foods

 Help set price of staple food

 Helps in rationing food

The army was deployed to help better manage food rationing following a series of protests by the local populace.

What were the factors that triggered the Sri Lankan Economic Crisis
Some of the the factors that triggered the economic crisis in Sri Lanka were:
  The Covid-19 Pandemic that put the tourism industry on hold. It accounted for 10% of Sri Lanka’s GDP
 This led to a dip in the forex reserve (from $7.5 billion in 2019 to $2.8 billion in July 2021).

 Dip in other sources of revenue led to high cost in importing of essential items, including food.

 A depreciated currency, high dependence on imports and hoarding led to a steep rise in food prices in Sri Lanka.

 The Hambantota port was another white elephant project by the present government to shorten its economic woes.
Instead it only further increased the debt problem that Sri Lanka faced as it had taken $1 billion from China.

 The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian Conflict also is a factor which is affecting the already precarious economic condition
of Sri Lanka.

 The reason is that the both the Sri Lankan tourism relies on arrivals from Russia and Ukraine

 Russia is also the second biggest market to Sri Lanka when it comes to tea exports.

 Thus, the war in the Ukraine put a serious dent in the path of economic recovery of Sri lanka.

Now how does a food shortage figure into this economic crisis? For that a single agricultural policy is responsible, the detail
of that will be discussed belows:

Marginalization

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in economies in terms of their contribution to
national output,employment and share of firms operating in countries.

In Sri Lanka, they form the backbone of the economy and can be found in all sectors of the economy.The SME
sector in Sri Lanka accounts for 52 percent of the GDP, and 45 percent of the total employment,whilst making
up more than 75 percent of the total number of enterprises in the country.

Question 05

Bid Opening Procedure

Opening of bids shall be done by a committee appointed with the concurrence of the respective
PC.Bid opening committee (BOC) must ensure that the clock that will be used for deciding the
closing time is set correct ly. Just before the bids are closed the BOC shall ensure that all the bids
that are posted, personally delivered, deposited in the tender box or any other means allowed for
submission of bids have been brought to the bid opening room. The proceedings of the bid
opening shall be recorded in the prescribed format and should be signed by all members of the
BOC. The time for bid opening shall be same as for the deadline for receipt of bids or prompt
ly40. The bid opening shall take place at the locat ion described in the bidding document . No bid
shall be rejected at the bid opening on any grounds other than returning a late bid.
Acceptance of samples with the bid is discouraged. However, on except ional basis where the
respect ive PC has specifically authorized. All the samples received should be labeled and signed
by the bid opening committee members.
The envelope marked “withdrawals” (if any) should be opened first. If the BOC is sat isfied with
the contents and authent icat ion of the withdrawal letter, the bidders original bid should not be
opened, but all the members and the representat ives of the bidders who are present shall signed
on the outer envelope of the bid. The bid shall be placed at secured place together with the other
bids to return on finalizat ion of the contract award. If the BOC is not sat isfied with the contents
and
authentication of the withdrawal letter, the bidders original bid should be opened together with
the other bids.Then all envelopes marked “modificat ion” should be placed with the respect ive
“original” bid. The envelope marked “modificat ion” is opened next and modificat ion proposed
is read out. The original bid of the bidder who has submitted the modificat ion envelope just read
out is opened next .
After complet ion of opening of all the bids that have being modified, the original bid of the
other
bidders should be opened. The copy of the bid shall not be opened.
Where there is no marking as “original” or “copy” the BOC shall mark one as original and it will
prevail as the original for the purpose of bid price. If the crit ical documents such as bid security
are absence in the document marked by the BOC as the original, only in such cases the BOC
should open the “copy” of the bid and search for such documents, transfer them to original
envelope and resealed the “copy”.
The BOC shall read out the following at the bid opening:
a) Name and address of the bidder (if joint venture read the name of the joint venture)
b) Absence or presence of the bid security; All members of the committee shall init ial the bid
security;
c) The bid price given in words in the form of bid; if the bid price is not given in words the
bid price given in figures; if bid price is not filled in the form of bid, the respect ive price
given in the BOQ or Price Schedules; Whether the announced prices are inclusive or
exclusive of VAT shall be indicated clearly.
d) If the cont ract will be awarded as a whole the announcement of final bid price is suffice; If
cont racts will be awarded in different items or lots such prices shall be announced;
e) The discounts offered shall be announced separately by clearly indicat ing that the
announced prices are inclusive or exclusive of discounts.
Any other informat ion that the BOC consider as relevant ; however, the details of the make-up
of
the bid price shall not be read out .
After opening original of each and read out the relevant information, the BOC shall resealed
the envelope before handing over the documents to the PE. The PE shall hand over the bid
documents to the Chairman of TEC in sealed form.