PHOTO: Atty. J. Roseline Nagbe-Kowo, PPCC boss
The Executive Director of the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), J. Roseline Nagbe-Kowo says a procuring entity in Liberia cannot adjudge approval of its own evaluation process.
According to the 2010 Act establishing the PPCC, “The Commission shall have the oversight responsibility for all public procurement and Concessions in accordance with this Act.”
Also, the PPCC was set up with the following objective as contained in this Act, which says: “The object of the Commission is to ensure the economic and efficient use of public funds in public procurement and to ensure that public procurement and Concession processes are conducted in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner.”
PPCC boss, Atty. Nagbe-Kowo has said it is the mandate of the PPCC under the PPC Act to review the procurement processes of procuring entities.
“Where a procurement process is submitted for review and no objection and found to be non-compliant and materially deviant, a no objection cannot be issued by PPCC, Attorney at Law Kowo pointed out.
She mentioned that anomalies and flaws in NEC’s evaluation as stated by the PPCC are material deviations that cannot be ignored. The PPCC maintains its review decision, as outlaid in the September 9, 2022 letter that the NEC conduct a reevaluation which must consider a video recorded redemonstration by the bidders who did the physical demonstration as per the NEC’ submissions for subsequent reference by the Evaluation Panel during its overall reevaluation process and for future reference on a bidder’s obligations in case of breach in the functionalities of the Biometric system during the conduct of the voter’s registration,” the head of the PPCC noted.
“The NEC should also institute all advisories as per the PPCC September 9, 2022 communication and adherence to all counts to facilitate further expeditious and wholesome review by PPCC,” Madam Kowo asserted.
The PPCC boss elaborated that NEC’ justifications tendered cannot suffice given that they do not address the anomalies PPCC indicated, as per the September 9, 2022 communication that established the need to reevaluate and also considering re-demonstration of the performance and functionalities of the Biometric system.
“The NEC should note keenly that PPCC’s role under its prior review obligations and mandates, as prescribed by law is to authenticate that the bidding process conducted are done in line with applicable procedures, fairly and transparently, and all bidders are treated equitably in terms of review and scrutiny of offers, ” she noted.
Madam Kowo observed that Ekemp and it joint venture partners do not have capacity to pre- finance the Biometric system for the voter’s registration and NEC did not submit justifiable evidence and proof to show bidders did demonstration.
She also added that no recorded video evidence to show that Ekemp and it joint venture partners have the requisite expertise, knowledge and experience to perform the Biometric system for the 2023 voter’s registration exercise.
Meanwhile, the NEC has reported that it is expected to invite all bidders to re-demonstration as and do subsequent Re-Evaluation as requested by the PPCC since it is the regulatory body for procurement processes in Liberia.