Martin Endjala
From 1 April to 30 September, the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) executed contract projects worth N$6.7 billion countrywide.
The contracts are still ongoing in all regions, with 164 projects.
This was revealed by CPBN monitoring and evaluation manager Toini Hamata during a media briefing in Windhoek for both the first and second quarters (Q1 and Q2).
The largest category in terms of project value is work projects, with over 60% of the total value of N$4.1 billion, with non-consultancy services leading in the number of projects.
Public entities and service providers were the most actively involved in non-consultancy services, with works commanding the highest financial investment.
“These numbers are indicating the significant investment currently being managed across various sectors. In total, 164 contracts are being tracked. The largest category is on track,” but there is a notable portion of contracts (about 9%) that are behind schedule and another 18.9% with pending reports, which indicate delays in data collection or performance review,” she said.
Direct procurement was the highest during the period under review at N$2.6 billion, followed by open national bidding at N$1 billion.
She said 91 contracts (55.5%) are progressing as planned with no major delays. This suggests that more than half of the contracts are performing well.
Reports indicate that 16 contracts (9.8%) are falling behind or off track.
Seventeen contracts (10.4%) are still early in their implementation phase (within the first three months), and their performance is likely to fluctuate as the projects progress.
Six contracts (3.7%) are completed or have entered the defects liability period, where any defects identified will need to be rectified before completion.
“Three contracts (1.8%) have been terminated or determined due to non-performance by the contractors/service providers and we also have 31 pending reports. This means public entities have no current performance data; at the time of compiling this brief, the reports were not yet received from the client. And follow-up is being done to ensure the projects are reported quarterly,” she explained.
According to Immanuel Kambinda, the acting executive for public procurement management, the board approved ten competitive procurement awards worth N$1.2 billion. Notably, 80% of these awards, amounting to N$849 million, were awarded to Namibian entities.
The board approved a total of 13 individual procurement plans and bid documents worth N$3.2 billion.
“The Public Procurement Act (PPA) 15 of 2015, as amended, underscores the need for competitive, transparent, and fair procurement processes to ensure value for money. This is realised through procurement methods like open national, open international, and restricted bidding processes,” he said.
He said this demonstrates the board’s commitment to empowering Namibians and creating jobs in line with Section 2 of the PPA.
The remaining 20% of the awards went to Namibian companies in joint ventures with foreign entities and a South African firm, reflecting both local empowerment and international collaboration.
According to Kambinda, the board approved 13 contract extensions totalling N$176 million, six of which were for N$75 million in Q1 and seven for N$100 million in Q2 of the same financial year.
In the first two quarters, the board approved the cancellation of three bids valued at N$1.1 billion.
Kambinda explained that the board minimises bid cancellations as a final measure to prevent disruptions in service delivery and to guarantee that the intended end users reap the benefits of procurement processes.
“When a bid is cancelled, the Board typically recommends initiating a restricted bidding process with a shortened time frame to ensure timely completion and reduce the impact on public entities and end users,” he said.
Idi Itope, the chief executive officer of CPBN, said the board is currently implementing a strategy to enhance the lengthy approval processes for bids.
He said they are developing an e-procurement system to facilitate the easy access and filing of documents.
He emphasised that CPBN has also introduced a formula targeting small and medium enterprises that allows them to be successful in bidding.
“This can be in the form of set requirements for a certain product to be procured only from a certain region to help boost economic activities in such a region,” he said.
