MUNASHE MATAMBO
The Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) has introduced a new standard bidding document for the country’s public sector in a bid to increase transparency and solve issues of corruption in public procurement, Business Times has learnt.
PRAZ chief executive officer, Nyasha Chizu, told this publication on the sidelines of a training workshop held in Harare this week that the new measure was in line with international best practice.
Over 100 representatives from government ministries, parastatals, commissions, and local councils attended the training workshop, which was aimed at capacitating them with the proper use of the standard bidding document.
“We didn’t have a standard bidding document, so this is a new thing we are introducing in the country,” Chizu said. “Thus, this workshop is to make sure that our procurement entities are able to use the new bidding document. “As PRAZ, we are mandated to issue standard bidding documents to be used by the public sector in soliciting for quotations and proposals. International best practice demands that the requirements for tendering be known. When we talk of issues of corruption in public procurement, it is when fine lines are put in tender documents to confuse the market for the purpose of favouring someone,” Chizu explained.
He said small differences in tender documents had led to confusion but the introduction of the standard bidding document would put a stop to the practice which was rampant in the public sector.
The move is bound to bring more transparency, which is one of the objectives of the Procurement Act, and generate more competition in the bidding process for the public sector to get value for money
