Blacklisted firms win contracts as crime goes unchecked
Many contractors have non-stop offices in informal countries, quote aloft prices. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD: How most growth work in Pakistan suffers from crime and of what value? Is there any state group to weigh it, though unfortunately nobody is there to make a assessment.
The growth work and reserve to supervision organisations generally embody infrastructure building, water, gas and electricity supplies, scrutiny activities and vegetable extraction.
Every supervision prepares a Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in a annual bill to set a gait of country’s growth and establish a cost, quite a need for unfamiliar exchange.
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Project contracts are awarded to bidders after assessing a prices they quote for creation reserve and implementing a schemes. In this process, certain supervision departments are ostensible to inspect a offers and endowment contracts.
However, in Pakistan, many companies win contracts regularly, even after being blacklisted by vital supervision organisations.
For instance, in a behest hold on Jan 11, 2016 by a Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP), a series of deviations were noted. However, when a emanate was brought to a notice of GSP Director General Nazrul Islam, he refused to hold what happened in a behest process.
He simply settled that all was finished according to germane manners and that he could infer it by applicable documents.
A agreement for a supply of dual coring rigs for vegetable scrutiny in several areas of Pakistan was won by a bidder that was allegedly a favourite of tip GSP bosses.
Coring rigs are used to establish a inlet of minerals, their quantities and a position of subterraneous deposits.
The sum supply cost was estimated during Rs250 million with a time duration of 6 months. The bidder, who got a contract, quoted 3 prices by 3 of his companies, that is opposite a law that prevents ‘collusive bidding’.
When asked, a GSP DG pronounced “I am not FIA. we am not ostensible to locate this aspect.” He claimed that a monitoring cabinet in a Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources had authorized a endowment of contract.
The GSP purchased dual rigs – one mounted on an 8×8 lorry and a other on 6×6 truck. However, a proposal had specified that both rigs should be on 8×8 trucks. This gave a retailer an additional advantage as prices paid were aloft than those payable in box of dual opposite kinds of rigs.
One simple behest precondition was that a cost of rigs would be paid after their delivery. However, a cost was paid in Jun 2016, 3 months before delivery. In his defence, a GSP DG forked to a bank pledge deposited by a bidder.
According to a proposal documents, “full remuneration would be expelled after successful installation, commissioning, contrast and user training.”
Loopholes
There are many such cases of supervision contracts where even graver deviations have been found.
The officials arising tenders for growth work and reserve as good as business houses take advantage of loopholes in a law and manners while also requesting tricks that are possibly tough to locate or are simply ignored by monitoring agencies.
Lately, many contractors and suppliers have non-stop offices in informal countries, generally in a UAE, from where they work as suppliers of machinery, tools and accessories.
These products are possibly constructed in European Union countries or a United States where laws and regulations demarcate kickbacks and commissions abroad, implying that no unfamiliar association provision to a unfamiliar supervision can exaggerate prices for formulating space for kickbacks.
Regional offices of many Pakistani companies work as suppliers that quote prices distant aloft than a tangible rates on that products are available. No group in Pakistan monitors these prices and no box is in domestic courts about exaggeration of prices of alien machinery, accessories and parts.
Besides, there is no check on a cost-insurance-freight (CIF) values of a products granted to supervision organisations. The bidders that are plant of fake practices have nowhere to go to make complaints.
Tender leak
In countless cases, a contract-awarding supervision organisations trickle proposal specifications in allege to a bidders of their choice. In many cases, when specifications or conditions for products supply do not fit a bidders of choice, a whole behest is cancelled and tenders are floated again.
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The Public Accounts Committee usually incidentally takes notice of such practices and that too usually partially. They can't check certification of a companies winning contracts frequently from supervision organisations even after complaints of collusion and kickbacks.
The author has worked with vital newspapers and specialises in a research of open financial and geo-economics of terrorism
Published in The Express Tribune, Jul 3rd, 2017.
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Article source: https://tribune.com.pk/story/1448854/blacklisted-firms-win-contracts-corruption-goes-unchecked/