Farmers sort shea nuts after harvesting. PHOTO | FILE
A feisty fight has broken out among several local firms over tenders for the provision of consultancy services under the $160.68m (about Shs592.8 billion) National Oilseeds Project.
This publication understands that some of the firms accuse officials in the project’s implementation unit of involvement in several shenanigans, including falsification of bid documents, shortlisting unqualified firms, sneaking in bid forms for firms that had not been part of the initial stages of the procurement process, and bending procurement rules in favour of some of the bidders. They poked holes in the technical evaluation process, claiming that inexperienced firms had actually been scored very highly.
“The process of awarding marks in the technical proposal evaluation needs to be reviewed as some bidders who did not have experience in implementation of agricultural development projects (as required in the call for proposals) were suspiciously awarded very high marks more than 80 percent. This area should be revisited and be redone by an impartial committee,” the petitioners demanded.
They further alleged that some of the officials who were involved in the procurement processes have been reaching out to interested parties demanding for cash in order to be awarded tenders under the project. The project is funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the government of Uganda.
Some of the petitioners have called for the procurement process to be brought to a halt, while others are calling for it to be reviewed.
Maj Gen (rtd) David Kasura-Kyomukama, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, says that the tender will not be awarded unless IFAD and his ministry are satisfied with the process.
“As the Accounting Officer I examine the whole process, especially now that I am interested in it, but I cannot award the tender the contract unless I get a no objection from the IFAD. We are not going to award it. This is not a local tender,” Maj Gen (rtd) Kasura-Kyomukama said.
The Project aims to provide “inclusive rural transformation through sustainable development of the oilseeds sector’’ and “accelerate commercialisation in key oilseeds value chains and thereby improve the livelihoods and resilience of the smallholders engaged in oilseeds production and marketing.’’
It provides for the recruitment of private sector services providers selected from oilseed profiled farmer groups in 81 Districts. These are divided into six hubs with among others training and extension services; business and market orientation training; and the necessary linkages. It is the aforesaid provision that has sparked the fights.
Crying foul
We understand that some of the firms that had submitted bids to provide the services have since cried foul and petitioned the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) and the Inspectorate of Government (IGG). They are calling for an investigation into the bidding process.
Copies of the letters, which this publication has seen, allege that the procurement process which has been going on since last September has been dogged by anomalies such as tampering with bid documents.
“The process has however been marred by irregularities, right from the issue of notice for Expression of Interest, through to the advert and eventual request for preparation of the technical and financial proposals; the handling of the technical proposal evaluation and awarding of marks; and ultimately, the process of opening of the financial proposals,” a June 30, 2024 letter reads in part.
It was not possible to engage the officials at the Inspectorate of Government and the PPDA over the complaints, but Maj Gen (rtd) Kasura-Kyomukama, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture told Saturday Monitor that the matter is under investigation.
“These are fundamental allegations because they affect the whole process. We are investigating them. If it is true, then these people have no jobs,” he said, adding that other arms of government are going to be roped into the investigation.
The allegations
Some of the petitioners allege intentional flaws right from the time when the project implementation unit of the ministry first invited firms to express interest in providing consultancy services. They claim that, in a rather unusual occurrence, the emails and links that the ministry’s technical team sent out on September 18, 2023, when it first placed the advert for the expression of interest, were not functional. This forced the team to make an addendum that provided for an extension to the date of submission.
The technical glitch, according to the petitioners, meant that bidders had to travel to the project offices in Kampala where the Procurement Manager would physically share the Expression of Interest documents.
“This was quite unusual compared to other similar procurements. It is suspected that some interested parties wanted to have the bidding process restricted to a few consultants,” the petitioners wrote.
The petitioners further say that whereas bidding to offer services in more than one project area was prohibited, the pre-bidding conference had revealed that some firms that violated the rule were shortlisted. This anomaly, the petitioners continue to note, was never attended to despite being brought to the attention of the project’s procurement unit.
“Based on this anomaly it is suspected that some bidders had privately received a go ahead from individuals in the PMU (Project Management Unit) to bid in more than one operational area which was against earlier instructions,” the petitioners allege.
The petitioners further say that whereas the bidders had been required to submit three year work plans and budgets along with the Expression of Interest forms, others did not fulfil that requirement.
“This was not fair as those who did not submit all these documents were still shortlisted for the technical and financial proposal stage,” they wrote while demanding that all submissions be revisited to allow for verification.
Some firms that missed the expression of interest stage, they claim, were sneaked in and shortlisted at the technical and financial proposal stage. Even at that technical and financial proposal stage, the petitioners proceed to note, was marred by some irregularities. Some of the envelopes containing the bid documents, they say, were not sealed as required.
“There was a case of a bid that was clearly tampered with, having been opened before the designated opening date. The explanation given by the PMU team was that it was carelessly handled by the evaluation team during transportation. It should be noted that the same bidder had two other applications in different regions that were sealed and intact,” the petitioners wrote.
Cash demands
The petitioners also accused officials in the project’s procurement unit of reaching out to them with demands for cash in order to influence the process. They alleged that one of the bosses had assigned a junior member of the technical evaluation team the task of reaching out to bidders with demands for cash in order to influence the process.
“This person is alleged to have collected money from some bidders at that stage and this is common knowledge to the Project Manager, Procurement Manager and others,” the petitioners wrote.
Maj Gen (rtd) Kasura-Kyomukama, said that the claim that officials are demanding money in order to influence the procurement process will be investigated.
“I have no doubt that there could be corruption in the process. Most of the corruption in government is twofold. One … is influence peddling, people trying to use our positions to influence procurement, because procurement is where the money is. We are definitely going to investigate this,” Maj Gen (rtd) Kasura-Kyomukama said.
He said that the ministry intends to loop the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and other investigative arms of the government into the process.
