The statement also says there shall be no travel for pre-shipment Inspections, saying inspections shall be conducted through video conferencing.
CORONAVIRUS
The Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets (PPDA) has issued guidelines in procurement in the wake of the spread of coronavirus in Uganda.
The guidelines were released by the PPDA executive director Benson Turamye on Wednesday evening.
This follows the President’s communication on March 18th, 2020 which highlighted measures the Government of Uganda had put in place to reduce the potential of spreading the COVID-19 virus.
“Following the presidential address and guidance from the Ministry of Health, the Authority hereby guides the Procuring and Disposing Entities (PDEs) on how to handle procurement-related processes,” reads part of the statement.
In the new measures, bids shall be submitted in hard copy or in soft copy. Where international bidders are not able to submit in hardcopy, they should give unconditional Powers of Attorney to a local representative to submit their bids.
The Procuring and Disposing Entities may opt to extend the bid submission deadlines in exceptional circumstances where there is no urgency.
The Pre-bid meetings and site inspections have all been suspended and bidders will be expected to raise any queries resulting from the bidding documents or seek clarifications in writing or by email.
Responses to clarifications shall be copied to all potential bidders by email. Where pre-bid meetings involve site inspections, the entities should schedule bidders to visit the sites in smaller groups of not more than 7 bidders at a time.
The bids shall be opened in the presence of not more than 7 bidder’s representatives while observing a distance of two metres away from each other. The results of bid opening shall be communicated by respective PDEs to the bidders by email; or any other acceptable electronic means or by phone.
The statement also says there shall be no travel for pre-shipment Inspections, saying inspections shall be conducted through video conferencing.
In the statement, Turamye also says Procuring and Disposing Entities will conduct these meetings as usual but shall minimize the numbers in attendance to not more than 5 (five). The staff should be positioned in a space of 2 meters away from each other during the meetings, amongst other measures as advised by the Ministry of Health.
He adds that administrative Review complaints will be made by email on [email protected]. No hearings will be held, but the parties will be expected to make written submissions by email to the Authority or to the PDEs. The Authority has suspended both demand and supply-driven training interventions in the PDEs.
He says the new guidelines will apply for a period of 30 days from the time they have been issued.
