Following the learning and reflection meeting conducted on 13th August 2020, stakeholders expressed concern that Local Governments had been left out in the advocacy for fair business practices; and yet, these take a large share of investments /budget in public infrastructure procurement as well. It was also noted that, the Local Governments while using the Direct Procurement method, did not comply with procurement regulations, safety, social, environmental safeguards and there was scarcity of providers within these entities and thus, exposing the sector to monopoly from a few providers and becoming a zone for influence peddling and patronage, straining and or leading to poor delivery of infrastructure projects. Local Governments also had funding constraints where unused funds from previous quarters would be required to be sent back to the treasury. These issues were further affirmed in the policy awareness webinar where the stakeholders raised concerns regarding the lack of fairness and transparency within Local Governments, and the inadequate capacity of Local Governments to attract and sustain credible firms. The private sector also recommended that, PPDA should standardize the bidding documents to favour all bidders at Local and Central Government levels.
Following these discussions, PPDA revised the standard bidding document as a guideline for procurement of works under the Open Bidding for Local Governments on 15th September 2020.
In the guidelines, PPDA stresses that Government revised the standard bidding document for the procurement of works under the open bidding methods for the use by the Local Governments with immediate effect.
“The revision incorporates environmental, social, Health and Safety requirements for the procurement of works, requirement of contract prices in Uganda shillings, clarification on the instruction for submission of joint ventures/Consortium and Associations and editorial enhancements. Bidders are required to include in their bids the details of their acceptance and compliance with Environmental, Social and Safety requirements and to adhere to them once the award is made to the provider throughout the execution of the contract. The guideline also introduced documents such as the Environmental and Social Performance Security, Code of Conduct for Contractor’s personnel, Environment and Social Management Plan and; Environmental, Social, Health and Safety Performance Declaration”
Standardization of guidelines and procedures will provide for compliance, enhanced performance and safety of workers and site users. It will also provide for effective preparations of the private sector in procurement.
