S.S. Afemikhe Consulting

PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’S PERSPECTIVE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Outline

1. Introduction

2. Tendering

3. Tendering methods for selection of consultant

4. Challenges

5. Conclusion

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’S PERSPECTIVE

Introduction• Public Procurement is the process of acquisition of goods, services, works and projects

from third parties by the Government.

• Procurement activities cover• Goods - Supply of raw materials, commodities or Finished Products

• Services - Provision of labour/knowledge based expertise

• Work -Combination of goods and services building and infrastructure etc.

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’S PERSPECTIVE

TenderingThe process of selection of vendor/contractor/consultant and it covers the following; Advertisement Prequalification Technical Proposal Technical bid evaluation Commercial Proposal Selection of winner

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’SPERSPECTIVE

Tendering Methods for Selection of Consultant. Main Method Quality and Cost – Based Selection (QCBS) Other Methods Quality Based Selection Fixed Budget Selection Least Cost Selection Consultant Qualification Single Source Selection

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’S PERSPECTIVE

Tendering Methods for Selection of Consultant. Quality and Cost – Based Selection (QCBS)

QCB selection is based on a competitive process carried out among short listed firms. It takes into account the quality of the proposal and as well as the cost of the services in the selection of the successful firm.

The selection process is usually two stage viz Technical Proposal Financial Proposal

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’SPERSPECTIVE Tendering Methods for Selection of Consultant.Other Methods Quality Based Selection• More consideration to quality than cost• For complex and highly specialised assignment for which the TOR and input from consultant will be difficult

to define precisely.

Fixed Budget Selection• Appropriate only when the assignment is simple and can be precisely defined

Least Cost Selection• Appropriate for assignment of routine nature such as Audits, engineering design etc. where well established

standards exist. Under this method, minimum qualifying mark will be established and proposals above the minimum qualifying mark will compete on cost.

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’S PERSPECTIVE

Tendering Methods for Selection of Consultant.Other Methods (Cont’d)Consultant Qualification• Appropriate for small assignments for which the need for preparing and evaluating

competitive proposal will not be justified

Single Source• Not Competitive• Only appropriate in exceptional situation such as; - Tasks that represent continuation of previous work carried out by the firm - Emergency situation (Natural disaster) - Very small assignment - Only one firm is qualified or has exceptional experience for the assignment•

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’SPERSPECTIVE

Practical Issues• Time for submission of proposalThe time allowed for submission of EOI/Proposal is always short. This impedes robust and comprehensive Technical Proposal .

• Budget The budget for most of the consultancy services are always very tight thereby reducing some of the work scope in order to operate within budget.

• Requirements for prequalificationSome of the requirements for prequalification are in some cases ambiguous (Not properly defined) .This at time made creates difficulties in inferring what is required to prequalify.

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS - CONSULTANT’SPERSPECTIVE

Practical Issues (Cont’d)• Cost of Tender preparationThe cost of preparing response to most tender is high in some cases. The cost elements includes cost of registration with “relevant” authorities, personnel cost and stationeries.

• Terms of ReferenceMost term of reference are very not open for flexibility. There are situations where the consultant is not permitted to amend superfluous issues contained in the TOR or items in the opinion of the consultant that are not imperative to the objective of the assignment.

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PRACTICAL ISSUES IN PREPARING PUBLIC TENDERS- CONSULTANT’SPERSPECTIVE

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