SOME UNTAPPED TENDER OPPORTUNITIES

MBABANE – Do local companies lack capacity to bid for some of the simple-looking tenders?

This is a question that begs to be answered following an increase in tenders where there is no local bidder or the one present is being outsmarted. Just in the past week, Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA) announced an intention to award a tender of less than a million Emalangeni (E855 000) to a bidder from India. The tender is for the provision of consultancy services for the development of mini-grids and off-grids regulatory framework.

An international company is not only leading the race to scoop this tender but it has done so without competition from local bidders. According to the intention to award notice, the rest of the evaluated responsive bidders were from the United Kingdom and South Africa. Another intention to award notice issued by ESERA late in the week was dominated by companies from France, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It is for the procurement of the circa 40 Megawatts (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity.

The shortlisted companies were identified as African Clean Energy Development (South Africa) and Globeleq Africa Holdings Limited from the United Kingdom. Among the bidders there was a company styled Voltalia-Semane Consortium with both a connection in France and here in Eswatini but it did not make the cut. Another tender worth over E11.8 million has failed to generate enough interest locally. It is for studio and final control centre upgrade at the Eswatini Television Authority (ESTVA).

notice

An intention to award notice declaring South Africa’s Protea Electronics as the provisional winner of the race has been issued. The only bidder from Eswatini, according to the notice, did not meet the minimum pass mark. The South African bidder scored 94.5 per cent. The passing mark is usually 70 per cent. It should be noted that the contract award decision does not constitute a contract. All tenderers who submitted bids are allowed a period of 10 working days for submission of any application for reviews.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: