Current PSI firms could be picked again

The government is expected to pick existing Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) firms for another two years after a search committee found no suitable companies for the assignment. The contract period of the four PSI companies is scheduled to expire on March 31. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) recently decided to seek extension of the contract period by another two months--until May-- to complete the procedures, officials said. "We'll send a proposal to the Finance Ministry for the approval of extension for the current PSI companies," a senior official said. The contract expired on December 31, 2010, but the board extended it till March 31. "The search committee has recommended that the NBR retain the contract of PSI companies. The committee has evaluated the proposals of all bidders. But none was found more suitable than the current firms," said the official. Existing four PSI companies--Omic, BIVAC, SGS and ITS-are expected to be selected for the job of issuing the clean report of finding (CRF) for the next two years, he said. "We need his (finance minister) approval first. Then cabinet's approval will be required for the final recruitment," the official said. The revenue board has short-listed six companies initially, but it has finally found existing four to be capable of conducting the inspection job, he added. The revenue board has followed the public procurement rule (PPR) for selecting new PSI companies, the official said. Officials said the four PSI companies will inspect the goods until 2012 as customs personnel are yet to build up their capacity to handle huge quantity of imported goods to check under invoicing. The PSI system will be phased out gradually after the customs wing of the revenue board gains expertise, they said. Already, mandatory PSI system has been withdrawn for import of nearly 3000 products. Officials said some other products are also in the pipeline, which might be exempted from the mandatory PSI system in phases.