Bidding mechanism: Tobacco track and trace system lingers due to legal concerns: FBR

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has observed that the process for finalisation of the bidder under the track and trace system for tobacco sector could not be completed due to legal concerns of non-participating bidders.
During the last meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance at the Parliament House, the chairman FBR gave a detailed briefing on the present status of track and trace system of tobacco products to the committee.
The FBR has consulted Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) on the procurement mechanism for finalisation of bidder under the track and trace system for tobacco sector.
Tax authorities informed the committee that the matter has been lingering since 2017, however, the FBR is very keen to make the system functional at the earliest so that the tax evasion in the tobacco sector could be controlled.
Regarding implications during the bidding process in the matter, he said that the reservations of various bidders were referred to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and sought their advice as well.
The FBR chairman said that the process could not be completed due to legal concerns of non-participating bidders as only one bid was received and it is yet to be evaluated on the technical criteria as contained in the request for proposal.
He further said that the PPRA was also consulted for opinion on the procurement mechanism after which next step would be taken by the FBR.
The committee observed that in spite of technical problem in the procurement process, only a single bid was received and inquired whether the PPRA Rules prohibit rejecting in case of single bid and if there is no restriction then why the PPRA was consulted.
The chairman FBR responded that there was no restriction under the PPRA Rules and every single bid was acceptable under open transparent process, however, in the particular case, according to the concerns raised by another non-participating bidder, some ambiguities were found in some areas, as per internal review of
the FBR, for which the PPRA was consulted to avoid future implications in the matter.
The committee showed dissatisfaction on the briefing given by the FBR and directed that a comprehensive brief along with details of the bidders should be provided to the committee within a period of 15 days and deferred the matter for a future meeting of the committee.