ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) has flagged multiple technical and procedural problems in the government’s Electronic Public Procurement and Disposal System (EPADS) 2.0.
According to correspondence sent by PIMS to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), the issues are affecting several procurement functions.
These include bidder identification, technical evaluations, grievance proceedings, financial bid openings and comparative statements.
Medicine Prequalification Issue
One major issue concerns the prequalification of suppliers for bulk medicine purchases.
PIMS entered 472 drug and medicine items into EPADS 2.0. However, the institute said these items were missing from the Standard Bidding Documents downloaded from the system.
PIMS has asked PPRA to resolve the issue before publishing the prequalification advertisement.
The hospital said bidders may otherwise be unable to determine the complete scope of the procurement.
PIMS has also written to PPRA several times about problems encountered while using the new system.
Problems With Technical Bids
PIMS said EPADS displays the names of individuals instead of participating companies when technical bids are opened.
The institute has asked PPRA to ensure that the names of bidding firms are displayed in the system.
The hospital also raised concerns about the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC).
According to PIMS, technical bids and the Technical Evaluation Report are not visible to the GRC through the relevant Procurement Committee or Procuring Agency accounts.
The institute questioned how the committee can properly decide procurement complaints without access to the underlying bid and evaluation records.
Financial Bid and Comparative Statement Issues
PIMS also objected to a system requirement for procuring agencies to provide a tentative financial bid opening date when uploading or announcing the Technical Evaluation Report.
Although EPADS can handle multiple tenders, the institute said the system does not generate a technical comparative statement while preparing the Technical Evaluation Report.
Several other supporting procurement reports are also reportedly unavailable through EPADS.
Issues With RFQs and Petty Procurement
The hospital has further flagged problems in Request for Quotation (RFQ) and petty procurement.
PIMS said the system allows winners to be declared for procurements exceeding the Rs500,000 threshold.
The institute also sought clarification on situations where a successful firm fails to endorse the Letter of Intent or does not supply the awarded goods or services.
PIMS has separately reported difficulties in advertising equipment maintenance tenders that include spare parts.
Questions Over EPADS Implementation
EPADS was launched in 2019 to digitise government procurement and improve transparency and efficiency.
However, sources said the system continues to face operational problems despite years of development. They also claimed that more than Rs2 billion in World Bank funding has been spent on the system.
Sources alleged that weaknesses during its development and implementation resulted in software problems that continue to affect government departments and businesses.
They further alleged that PPRA management understated the system’s shortcomings in reports submitted to the federal government, despite concerns and directives from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Questions have also been raised over PPRA’s procurement reform efforts, particularly its continued hiring of consultants after previously engaging several consultants on reportedly lucrative contracts.
ProPakistani contacted PPRA for its official response. However, no response was received before publication.
