Punjab government has ignored procurement rules in tenders for hiring foreign consultants/consortia for evaluation and techno-economic feasibility of Iron Ore reserves in different parts of the province. A print media advertisement appeared in a section of press on July 9, 2010, by the Mines and Minerals department of the Punjab government exhibits series of violations of the Punjab Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), adopted by the Punjab government on November 9, 2009.
The departmental authorities, while confessing the violations, have pointed out that they are aiming at 'transparency in a speedy manner' of the tender process on the desire of brains behind the exercise, including Chief Minister Punjab, Mian Mohammad Mansha and Nadeem Babar.
According to the tender details, there are potential Iron Ore reserves found in the subsurface igneous rocks under a thick alluvial cover and aquifers near Chiniot and Rajoa areas, Punjab. The Mines and Minerals department of Punjab government is very keen to develop this indigenous Iron Ore resource on modern geo-scientific lines. The geological and geo-physical studies, besides 15 boreholes have already been undertaken. Similarly, another tender pointed out that economic Iron Ore reserves have been established near Kalabagh, District Mianwali, Punjab. These are located in sedimentary rocks and out cropped in a dipping fashion.
However, the prequalification tender for hiring services of foreign consultants carries with string of violations of the Punjab Procurement Rules. These rules stipulate that under no circumstances the response time shall be less than fifteen working days for national competitive bidding and thirty working days for international competitive bidding from the date of publication of advertisement or notice. All advertisements or notices shall expressly mention the response time allowed for that particular procurement along with the information for collection of bid documents which shall be issued till a given date, allowing sufficient time to complete and submit the bid by the closing date.
However, the ad was issued with a response time of fifteen days on July 9, 2010. It was corrected through a corrigendum and response time was extended to thirty days on July 19, 2010 when objections were raised by intended bidders.
Further, the procurement rules stipulate that the bidders will purchase the tender documents in order to qualify but no such price for tender documents has been mentioned anywhere in the ads. In addition, no scoring is mentioned for the criteria set for bidders to qualify for the tender.
So much so, no minimum criterion is mentioned for the consultants for applying under the tender. Those who are raising eyebrows have pointed out that missing of such basic ingredients in the tender ads puts question mark on the transparency on the process.
When contacted by the Business Recorder, Secretary Mines and Minerals department Saif Ullah Chattha said no strict following of procurement rules is being made in order to run the department like a private sector company. He said the department has registered Punjab Cole Mining Company with Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) with Mian Mohammad Mansha as its Chairman and Nadeem Babar, including others, as its director.
He said there is desire of the company chairman, backed by the Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, to push the jobs expeditiously instead of following them up through public sector mindset. "Therefore, there may be that we are not following the procurement rules strictly," he said.
Chattha further stressed that the tender ads are backed by Terms of Reference duly approved by the Board of Directors. However, sources told that ToRs are finalised and approved by the BoD after the tender was issued in the print media.
However, after strong exchange of arguments, Secretary Mines and Minerals Punjab government agreed to add the missing requirements of procurement rules to the add on departmental website, including price of tender documents worth Rs 200/-, scoring of criteria for qualifying the tender to avoid objections both from provincial finance and planning & development departments.