Govt Agencies Said Involved In Favoritism In Purchasing Goods

Some government agencies, which are not affiliated to Ministry of Health and Ministry of Defense, have conducted extensive random purchases in the last four months, floating fast purchases by direct order on some goods and products under the pretext of the disruption of work in government agencies and lack of staff to complete the documentation cycle related to completing procedures for purchases in line with the usual principles.

The informed sources noted some of the purchases made during the interruption of work as a result of COVID- 19 pandemic were recorded by the services and procurement departments of government agencies and granted through brokerage.

Some concerned employees who possess the information did not announce the practices or purchase orders on the websites of concerned government agencies.

Therefore, the supply process is attributed to one of those close to them, provided that the latter buys the required products from the local market and presents them with invoices in the name of a company whose papers are used formally at high prices.

People emerge on the streets in Kuwait City as life drags to normalcy after easing of lockdown in various parts of the country
Some employees took advantage of the Central Agency for Tenders law, especially concerning the permissibility of public agencies to contract without permission from the agency if the contract value does not exceed KD 75,000.

A number of manufacturers and suppliers affirm that the local market has been witness to a strange phenomenon over the last four months, as quotations are being requested for products through intermediaries with the aim of entering them into government agencies.

Mediator
And, whenever the mediator is asked about the absence of an announcement in relation to that practice or purchase request for products, the response is: “I have been informed to enter it in the ‘socalled’ ministry or government agency!”

Meanwhile, other sources familiar with the issue indicated that Cabinet’s Secretariat issued a directive to all government departments to unify the purchases of government agencies’ with regard to requests to counter the novel coronavirus, as long as the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers implements government agencies’ purchases centrally within fiscal year 2020/2021 budget.

The sources revealed that the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers consequently issued a directive for new purchases to serve the needs of government agencies in confronting the new coronavirus based on three perspectives:

First: Procedures for requesting need by government agencies The concerned government agency shall prepare and send a letter to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers stating its special needs in the fight against the new coronavirus, whether in services or materials, specifications and quantities, with details on the reason for their needs to the requesting authority.

The government agencies’ requests are studied by specialists to either grant approval or rejection, and if approved, documentation procedures for the purchase, supply and payment are completed by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.

Second: Documentation procedures for purchase by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers The material is coded and described by specialists in the warehouse unit and the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, taking into account the standardization of well-known store code – according to the rules for characterization and coding of materials in line with Circular No. 10 of 2016. The circular has to do with the documentation cycle of warehousing operations in the inventory management system under government’s financial man agement systems, so there is a possibility for inventory.

These purchases are made at the state level, then the procurement procedures are completed by specialists at the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers according to the terms, procedures and rules mentioned in each of Law No. 49 of 2016 concerning public tenders, Circular No. 2 of 2017 concerning procurement systems in the government agencies, and instructions No. 1 of 2017 regarding the documentation cycle of purchasing in the government financial management systems.

Third: Procedures for receiving materials from suppliers and contractors Materials are received and examined according to the purchase order issued by government’s financial management systems. “When forming members of the examination and statistics committee, it is considered that specialists are from the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and the requesting government body, and all conditions of security, safety and precautions are issued by the Ministry of Health to combat the new coronavirus”.

Recording Consequently, professionals from the Secretariat General of the Council of Ministers perform the procedures of recording the initial acceptance, examination, statistics and final receipt of the materials received in government’s financial management systems, whether in the requesting agency’s location or cabinet’s stores. Small projects .. ‘out of the game’ A number of owners of small and medium enterprises confirmed that most government agencies do not evaluate their products, although they are required within the governmental requirements to do so, and they’re dealt with in the same manner as large companies. “In the past four months, a number of products have emerged that are in great demand- especially from the government agencies, including alcohol masks, sterilizers, detergents, foodstuffs, contracting carpentry work, electrical installations, etc. .. However, entrepreneurs are “out of the game”, he said.

Opportunity
He stressed that entrepreneurs were not given the opportunity in this regard, and the majority of requests were from the share of large companies or intermediaries and brokers assigned to them. He noted a number of small business owners who have factories and companies capable of providing many services through consumer supplies or building quarantines as a contracting business.

They offer high quality products and services at competitive prices but receive no request from government agencies despite government’s tender and circular law stressing the need to use products and services of small and medium enterprises. Fund-supported entrepreneur: The contracts are suddenly underway One of the initiators of a sterile factory said “my products are locally manufactured and approved by the Ministry of Health, and my factory is the only one of its kind supported by the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises.

Although these products are required by government agencies, every time I submit my services offer, I discover they have contracted large quantities with suppliers without advertisement or bidding.”

He said: How can small and medium enterprises continue to operate if some government agency employees do not recognize them and refuse to help them. He declared that the truth must be told, because the only party that tries to give entrepreneurs an opportunity to buy products is the Ministry of Finance, represented by Mrs. Aseel Al-Moneefi, the Undersecretary for Financial and Tax Affairs in the ministry.

Imported masks competing with ‘local’ A Kuwaiti entrepreneur disclosed, “I created a new factory to produce medical masks in the past four months, and after the production process and purchasing raw materials at high prices due to the high cost of material, I was surprised to see the market flooded with all types of cheap masks that do not meet the medical requirements against dust, while they’re sold at low prices without the supervision of regulatory authorities or government”.

Governmental websites that are not committed to transparency Sources said, “Although all government agencies have websites, most of them lack update and transparency, as they are supposed to raise their practices, tenders and auctions on their website, so that stakeholders can view them but this does not happen”.

They reiterated that some government agencies ignore article 10 of the Central Tenders Law, which states that “parties concerned with procurement should endeavor to use modern information and communications technology, including electronic means, to the maximum degree to accomplish the procurement procedures in line with law and regulations, to achieve more competition and transparency in the procurement process.”

 

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