THE tender evaluation process is meant to select the offer that meets the tendering requirements and having submitted the lowest cost.
Nyasha Chizu
The evaluation process then leads to the next stage, that of contract award. They are processes and procedures that are followed and maybe informed by best practices or the law. There are various benchmarks for effective process that we shall consider. Public procurement processes are subject to principles of transparency, equal treatment of providers and the need to maintain highest levels of integrity. This is against the background that public procurement is funded from public funds and hence the need for transparent processes and procedures.
As standard procedure, bidders are notified of award of tender indiscriminately, the information disclosing the winning bidder and the amount the tender has been awarded at. The notifications for award must be sent out timeously, from the date of final approval. A lag in this gap may stall the process given that participants have at law, 20 days from date of receipt of notification to challenge the decision made. The more the notification is delayed, the more the time to sign a contract is extended, hindering performance greatly especially as this is not a value adding activity. Effectiveness can then be measured by assessing the time the organisation is taking to issue tender results.
Internal lead time refers to the time the organisation takes to conclude internal processes of need identification to contract award. It can be divided by two when we separate activities from planning to tender closing and tender evaluation to contract award stages.
Internal lead time is a factor within the control of the organisation as opposed to external lead time, the time suppliers require after contract award to deliver the goods. A second element to consider at this stage is the fact that contract award should be done during the validity period of the quotation or tender. A bidder has the right to renegotiate price once the validity period has expired. Some validity periods of quotations and tenders are limited and this compels the organisation conclude the evaluation in limited timeframes.
Effectiveness is assessed by a review of the time taken to do the evaluation and review of contract awarded during the validity period or processes cancelled because the validity period had expired.
Tender awards may be issued manually or published online on e-procurement platforms and organisation websites. This goes a long way in cementing confidence in transparency, having gone through the appropriate processes. The number of tender awards published must be noted down against the total number of tenders as a percentage to assess the performance in relation to utilising information technology in procurement and meeting the minimum requirements of the law.
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Public procurement demands that tenders are awarded in consideration of the legal provisions and the requirements set out in the tender document. Tenders may also not be awarded, where bidders have all failed to meet specifications required. The number of failed tenders against the total number of tenders is critical information to assess the performance of not one aspect but the entire process as a whole. The discrepancy is one that needs investigating and correcting to avoid the gap growing as it is a direct measure of the department’s performance. This could be a clear sign of ambiguity of specifications or over specifications.
The default method of procurement is tendering. There are circumstances when tendering is not possible the purchase may require conclusion by direct engagement. There are at law instances when direct engagement is permissible. The reasons for direct engagement require review time and again to guard against abuse and the number of direct tenders or purchases must also be noted against the overall number of tenders.
Laws also provide for local preference. Procurement is usually used as a development tool and the number of tenders awarded to local, and those to international suppliers must be completed and plotted to allow for analysis into the spend of an organisation, especially in areas with legislations that demand a certain percentage of spend to be localised.
Review of internal lead time and processes need not to be overemphasised.
Nyasha Chizu is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply writing in his personal capacity. Feedback: [email protected] Skype: Nyasha.chizu
