PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (KPPRA) has ordered a comprehensive inquiry into alleged irregularities in the tendering process for road construction projects worth Rs1.8 billion in Karak after dismissing an appeal filed by a contractor.
It is pertinent to mention here that as per the order of the authority, the appeal has been deemed as not admissible as the appellant could not prove that the required preliminary complaints process set out under procurement regulations has been utilized prior to the appeal.
In the order, it has been stated that the contractor could not prove the unreasonableness or discrimination in disqualification on technical grounds. The authority also found that no satisfactory explanation has been given about the discrepancies in the submitted documents of different packages, bid security numbers and financial bids.
While reviewing the record, the authority identified several apparent procedural shortcomings in the tendering process. These included the absence of evidence that technical and final evaluation reports had been published, failure to establish compliance with the mandatory standstill period, lack of transparency in tie-breaking procedures, failure to notify all bidders in a timely manner, and the disqualification of bidders for not submitting additional hard-copy documents despite bids having been submitted through the Electronic Pakistan Acquisition and Disposal System (e-PADS).
In light of these observations, KPPRA instructed the Secretary of the C&W Department to form an independent inquiry committee within 30 days to look into these violations.
The committee has been mandated to find out the officers who have been involved in violating the procedural process in awarding road contracts and propose disciplinary actions against them. In addition to that, the committee has been instructed to submit its report to the procurement authority within the time frame.
