US firm may be selected as PSI audit agency
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
S M Jahangir
Progress has been made in the selection of a US-based firm as the pre-shipment inspection (PSI) audit agency by the technical committee in an official move to prevent revenue leakage and irregularities in the system, sources said.
The only firm, US firm National Marine Consultants inc. (NMCI), has placed its offer as sought by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) authorities for the appointment of a PSI auditor, they said.
"The high-profile technical committee under the NBR has already found the NMCI's technical offer responsive and it will decide on the proposals after evaluating the company's financial proposal," a senior official told the FE Monday.
The process of evaluating the financial offer will be completed within a couple of days, the official added.
The official further said: "If the firm qualifies for the financial offer, the committee will place its final selection report before the NBR authorities for the next course of action."
According to NBR officials, after getting the finance ministry's nod, the proposal on the appointment of PSI audit agency will be placed before the advisory committee on public purchase for final approval.
Earlier, the government invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from internationally reputed firms for the appointment of a PSI audit agency.
Although two firms submitted their EoI before the NBR authority, the US-based NMCI alone placed both technical and financial proposals to it, an official said.
The government wants to complete the process relating to the appointment of the PSI audit agency within the shortest possible time as four PSI agencies are to start their operations from early next month, officials said.
The interim cabinet on public purchase recently accepted the proposals for appointing the four PSI companies - SGS (Bangladesh) Limited,
Bureau Veritas BIVAC (Bangladesh) Limited, Intertek Testing (ITS) Limited and a new Japan-based company Omic - for the period up to December 2009.
The authorities signed Monday operational contracts with the four companies to pave the way for their operations from the early next month.
The government introduced the PSI systems from 1999 to inspect imported goods before their shipment to Bangladesh with a view to checking leakage in payment of customs duties, they mentioned.
But since then, PSI companies' operation has become controversial, with some importers and officials accusing the firms of using wrong HS code classification, under-valuation and wrong declaration of imported goods.
Early this year, the NBR cancelled agreement with a Switzerland-based PSI company after detecting irregularities in the valuation of imported luxury cars.
According to NBR officials, the main tasks of the proposed PSI audit agency will be to conduct post clearance audit and verify a maximum 20 per cent of the inspection reports submitted by the PSI firms per month.
Besides, the audit agency will investigate the country of origin of the imported goods if necessary to ascertain the veracity of the PSI reports.
Meanwhile, the government has said the existing PSI system will be abolished after the expiry of their contracts in December 2009, before which the customs department will be ready to conduct inspection.
Progress has been made in the selection of a US-based firm as the pre-shipment inspection (PSI) audit agency by the technical committee in an official move to prevent revenue leakage and irregularities in the system, sources said.
The only firm, US firm National Marine Consultants inc. (NMCI), has placed its offer as sought by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) authorities for the appointment of a PSI auditor, they said.
"The high-profile technical committee under the NBR has already found the NMCI's technical offer responsive and it will decide on the proposals after evaluating the company's financial proposal," a senior official told the FE Monday.
The process of evaluating the financial offer will be completed within a couple of days, the official added.
The official further said: "If the firm qualifies for the financial offer, the committee will place its final selection report before the NBR authorities for the next course of action."
According to NBR officials, after getting the finance ministry's nod, the proposal on the appointment of PSI audit agency will be placed before the advisory committee on public purchase for final approval.
Earlier, the government invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from internationally reputed firms for the appointment of a PSI audit agency.
Although two firms submitted their EoI before the NBR authority, the US-based NMCI alone placed both technical and financial proposals to it, an official said.
The government wants to complete the process relating to the appointment of the PSI audit agency within the shortest possible time as four PSI agencies are to start their operations from early next month, officials said.
The interim cabinet on public purchase recently accepted the proposals for appointing the four PSI companies - SGS (Bangladesh) Limited,
Bureau Veritas BIVAC (Bangladesh) Limited, Intertek Testing (ITS) Limited and a new Japan-based company Omic - for the period up to December 2009.
The authorities signed Monday operational contracts with the four companies to pave the way for their operations from the early next month.
The government introduced the PSI systems from 1999 to inspect imported goods before their shipment to Bangladesh with a view to checking leakage in payment of customs duties, they mentioned.
But since then, PSI companies' operation has become controversial, with some importers and officials accusing the firms of using wrong HS code classification, under-valuation and wrong declaration of imported goods.
Early this year, the NBR cancelled agreement with a Switzerland-based PSI company after detecting irregularities in the valuation of imported luxury cars.
According to NBR officials, the main tasks of the proposed PSI audit agency will be to conduct post clearance audit and verify a maximum 20 per cent of the inspection reports submitted by the PSI firms per month.
Besides, the audit agency will investigate the country of origin of the imported goods if necessary to ascertain the veracity of the PSI reports.
Meanwhile, the government has said the existing PSI system will be abolished after the expiry of their contracts in December 2009, before which the customs department will be ready to conduct inspection.