Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) has requested the finance division to take measures so that an increased number of bidders can take part in government development works.
At the same time, the RTHD has also underlined the importance of taking steps for capacity building of the local contractors, officials said.
In this regard, the RTHD has proposed the finance division to make some recommendations effective after further consultation with the stakeholders and re-evaluating them.
The Cabinet Committee on Government Procurement (CCGP) had formed an inter-ministerial committee which submitted some recommendations about this back in December 2021 but those are yet to be made effective.
Officials said adviser for the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, after taking office, held a meeting on public-sector procurement under e-GP and other medium in line with the Public Procurement Act- 2006 and Public Procurement Rules-2008.
At the meeting, the chief engineer of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) said some contractors get works repeatedly due to limitation in the Public Procurement Act (PPA).
He pointed out that in the procurement through open tender method under the PPA-2006 there is an obligation that price has to be quoted 10 per cent plus-minus of the actual price estimated by the tendering authority.
Since the schedule of rates 2022 (amended in 2023) for the RHD is available for everyone, the contractors can easily find out the estimated price of a tender thus they quote almost similar prices in the bidding documents which is 10 per cent lesser than the actual estimated price, he said.
Thus, even in some low-cost development works large bidders attend and repeatedly capture the works, he said.
The meeting suggested making some recommendations effective which a government formed committee placed back in December 2021.
A senior finance division official told the FE that the ministry has received the request from the Road Transport and Highways Division and will soon hold discussion with the stakeholders to make the said recommendations effective.
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