The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) yesterday said the lucrative tender to administer the Public Service Employee Medical Aid Scheme (PSEMAS) was cancelled “due to non-responsiveness after going through a rigorous evaluation process”.
This means the finance ministry will now be required to re-assess the tender requirements that led to the cancellation of the bid and will have to resubmit any changes to the CPBN.
The CPBN confirmed that of six bids received and evaluated by the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC), all were found non-responsive as they did not meet mandatory and eligibility evaluation criteria of the Public Procurement Act (PPA).
Psemas received N$2.8 billion for the 2019/20 financial year and was allocated N$2.2 billion in 2016, N$2.5 billion in 2017, and N$2.5 billion in 2018. “The bidders did not meet the requirements of Section 29 (a) of the PPA ‘reserved to citizens of Namibia’.”
Provide proof of ownership [attach certified copies of all shareholders certificates and Namibian identification documents or Members Interest Certificate and Namibian identification documents],” read a statement from the CPBN.
In addition, the CPBN also asked bidders to complete company shareholding information and to submit CVs and certified copies of qualifications of essential personnel, including a pharmacist registered with the Health Professional Council of Namibia (HPCN); a dentist registered with the HPCN; medical doctors registered with the HPCN; and two specialists in different medical fields, registered with the HPCN.
The Psemas tender was first advertised in the print media and on CPBN’s website in June this year with a deadline of 22 July 2020. This deadline was later extended to 23 September 2020 due to amendments that were made in the Standard Bidding Document (SBD) as well as to provide bidders sufficient time to complete the required documents.
Considering these shortcomings by the bidders, the BEC recommend the cancellation of the Psemas bid to the CPBN, which was subsequently approved.
“The board or a public entity may, at any time prior to the acceptance of a bid, rejects all bids or cancel the bidding process, if - (a) all the bids are non-responsive,” the CPBN communicated to all bidders last week Friday.
Earlier this year, a local medical aid administrator, Prosperity Health, objected to conditions in the tender to administer the government medical aid, saying these were inadvertently drafted to exclude all potential participants except the current holder of the tender, which is Methealth Namibia.
Psemas membership contributions were increased earlier this year by 100%, from N$120 to N$240 for main members while coverage for dependents is now charged at N$120 per person.
– ebrandt@nepc.com.na