Times Of Swaziland: ESPPRA DEVELOPS CENTRAL DATABASE

ESPPRA DEVELOPS CENTRAL DATABASE
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BY ASHMOND NZIMA  on 30/07/2020 00:08:00


MBABANE – There is a reported significant compliance burden on both public
entities and suppliers when procuring goods, services and works.
As a result the regulator, Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency
(ESPPRA), is on the verge of developing a central supplier database system and
mobile application for the country.
The Agency seeks to create a database system and a mobile application where all
suppliers that are currently providing goods, services and works to procuring
entities (PEs) and those that will be interested in supplying public entities in
the future will register their details with the Agency.
As a result, ESPPRA invites competent and suitable registered companies for the
development of the platform.
This is as per a request for expression of interest (EOI), which was also posted
on its website  In the rationale, the Agency claimed that there had been a
significant compliance burden on both PEs and suppliers when procuring goods,
services and works.
Public Entities have reportedly experienced difficulties in validating the
authenticity of the supplier eligibility documents required by Section 40 of the
Act, thus leading to awarding of contracts to non-eligible suppliers.
Challenge
Through the system, ESPPRA also wants to avoid the challenge where suppliers get
disqualified for submitting incomplete eligibility documents.
It seeks to eliminate poor competition in procurement proceedings thus not
achieving value for money.
ESPPRA further noted a lack of standardisation to guide both PEs and business
sector with regards the required set of statutory documents for consistency.
“To this end therefore, the Agency seeks to develop a central supplier
database system and mobile application to  compliment  the  now  fully 
implemented  tender  advertisement  and  notification  project.
“Together  these  two  projects  form  stage  1  and  stage  2  respectively 
of  the  development  and implementation of the e-Government Procurement (e-GP)
System that the Agency has embarked on developing in which supplier management
is a pre-requisite module.
“To be eligible to conduct business with the PEs, suppliers will be required
to submit applications for registration in the database system where the
applications will be assessed,” reads the correspondence in part.
ESPPRA stressed that the modernisation of procurement systems was based on
principles of simplification, standardisation and automation of as many business
processes  as  possible.
“The registered suppliers will form a database of suppliers who are eligible
to participate in public procurement as per the provisions of Section 40 and
part of Section 41 (2), (b) of the Public Procurement Act, 2011. Through the
supplier database system, the Agency aims to ensure full compliance with the
principles of fairness, transparency and maximum competition to ensure value for
money in public procurement as envisaged by Section 38 of the Procurement Act.
The service provider will be expected to develop a set of database system
specifications and the level of detail that corresponds to the project needs.
This includes the development of a user-friendly mobile application (App) to use
content of the database system. Registered companies are invited to submit their
proposals.
The proposal shall be entitled ‘Technical  Proposal –EOI:  01  of 
2020/21–DEVELOPMENT OF ESWATINI CENTRAL SUPPLIER DATABASE SYSTEM AND MOBILE
APPLICATION’.
It should be emailed to procurement@sppra.co.sz with the email subject EOI: 01
OF 2020-21 DEVELOPMENT OF ESWATINI CENTRAL SUPPLIER SYSTEM AND MOBILE
APPLICATION.
The proposals must be sent electronically (only) to procurement@sppra.co.sz by
10:30am tomorrow.
“Late proposals and those received by telegram, facsimile, or similar medium
will not be considered,” reads the invitation. Most suppliers, on condition of
anonymity, welcomed the move following reports of disqualification of some
potential suppliers.