PPDA wants local contractors prioritised
Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) has called on government institutions to prioritise Malawian companies in the awarding of contracts to empower locals.
PPDA director general Eddington Chilapondwa said in an interview yesterday Malawians have the potential to carry out projects but what is needed is to ensure that they are empowered and supervised.
He said: “We want to encourage all government entities to consider applying this preference. Give local Malawians an added advantage to engage in public procurement and benefit from the government budget.”
Chilapondwa said it was unfortunate that local contractors are accused of substandard works when government institutions awarding contracts are supposed to put in place mechanisms for ensuring high quality standards.
In a separate interview yesterday, Ministry of Transport and Public Works spokesperson Watson Maingo said there is commitment to award contracts to local companies, but the biggest challenge is capacity, especially to do with equipment.
“The good part of giving contracts to local companies is that you are assured that the money will remain in Malawi. It also helps on issues of employment.
“However capacity of local contractors to handle big projects becomes a challenge,” he said.
Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises chairperson Bintony Kutsaira also supported the idea of promoting Malawian contractors, saying what is needed is to ensure that mechanisms for checking quality of the works are enhanced.
“We encourage Malawians to be participating in these contracts. The most important thing is that Malawians should also benefit from the government resources,” he said.
The preferential treatment is provided for under Section 44 (10) of the PPDA Act and compels procuring and disposing entities to award 60 percent of all contracts under the National Competitive Bidding to indigenous black Malawians and the remaining 40 percent to others.
Awarding of contracts are also to follow a 20 percent preference for a local Malawian when a Malawian is competing with a foreigner. If the bid submission for Malawian contractors is 20 percent higher than the foreign contractor, the contract is supposed to be awarded to a local contractor.
