1 December 2008
Central Medical Stores (CMS) risks lawsuits after it unilaterally terminated three multi-million Pula contracts for the supply of pain-killers, oxygen masks and bandages. CMS, which is at the centre of a P21 million fraud case, terminated the tenders after the three suppliers sought to increase prices.
The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) said last week that it had rejected a decision by CMS to terminate the contracts because of the risk of lawsuits. CMS terminated the contract of their current supplier of pain-killers without engaging the company first and awarded the P4 million tender to an Indian company, Cadila Pharmaceuticals.
The PPADB has advised the controversy-ridden CMS to go back and seek legal advice on the matter so that the multi-million Pula contract is lawfully terminated, in consultation with the current supplier. PPDAB told the Monitor that when CMS approached them to give the decision the green light, it was also realised that vital information was not included.
In a brief email, CMS claimed that the current supplier, whom they did not name, failed to supply them with the pain-killers, which are also used as a combination drug. "Current supplier was failing to deliver but kept on postponing delivery until Central Medical Stores decided to cancel the order and re-tender for the item as they were the only bidders at that time. Suppliers were invited to tender and only Cadila responded. This was evaluated and found to be compliant.
The decision was submitted to PPADB for adjudication. This was also rejected because copies of correspondence with the current contractor were not provided to PPADB, quotations from Cadila do not have any validity," said the email response from the Ministry of Health spokesperson, Themba Sibanda.
In another matter, the PPADB smelt a rat when they realised CMS was re-awarding one company a lucrative tender without opening the bid for others to vie. The tender award of P561,303.35 to SK Agencies is for the supply of 79,600 adult oxygen masks and 61,700 child oxygen masks.
It has surfaced that CMS decided to award the tender to SK Agencies without entering into negotiations with the current supplier. This happened after the supplier approached CMS for price adjustment. CMS refused to answer questions on the matter last week.
In another tender, CMS decided to ditch a supplier in favour of Nebom Investments for the supply of 600 units of bandage stockinet.
PPADB spokesperson Ditapole Tsheboeng says the tender was not approved because the board found that CMS had not yet responded to the request for a price increase by the company originally awarded the bid. The contract with the company had not yet been terminated.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
