Minister in the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill yesterday said that the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) only this week received formal notification of Cabinet’s ‘no objection’ to the prequalification of the New GPC to supply drugs for the health sector and it will in turn be notifying the Ministry of Health.
“Tender Board has now received a copy—I think on Monday—and they will now write the Ministry of Health,” Edghill told Stabroek News yesterday.
The new development, a source at the NPTAB explained, will see the nullification of a protest and court filings by two companies that objected to the award and will now require them to restart these processes. “I don’t know if it’s to frustrate the bidders, I can’t answer that. But they better know that they have to take necessary actions from the date they receive the notice of award from the procuring entity because this they have is now void,” the source said.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon last week said he was sure that the documentation was sent and had promised to supply the proof. Luncheon had flayed NPTAB, which has maintained that there could be no notification of the award as cabinet was yet to send documentation of its decision.
However, on Saturday, Luncheon informed Stabroek News that the document had indeed not been sent.
Edghill says that the NPTAB is now following the procurement protocol and from hereon companies who are not satisfied with the decision can take the necessary steps. “The tender board will now write the Ministry of Health and they will offer award… the ministry now, not NPTAB, has to notify all the others who were not selected indicating that decision,” Edghill explained.
“The other companies, those who have protests and so on, will now be able to move ahead and do that,” he further added.
The lapse by Cabinet has raised questions as to just how the process of no-objections has been conducted all the time and whether this failing was intended to protect the prequalification of New GPC from various challenges.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health Leslie Cadogan last month had pointed out that his ministry was still waiting to officially be notified of the result of the prequalification process. He said then that once this is done he will notify all of the bidders. “To date, the Health Ministry has not been officially notified of any awards as it relates to the procurement of drug and medical supplies. As soon as the Health Ministry is officially notified, both successful and unsuccessful bidders(s) will be informed,” he wrote in a letter.
Luncheon is scheduled to sometime today make public the announcement of the date the notification of the award was sent.
Since Luncheon’s announcement in July this year that only the New GPC had been selected to supply drugs to the health sector for the 2014 to 2016 period, there have been formal protests by ANSA McAl and a court challenge of the decision by the International Pharmaceu-tical Agency (IPA).
IPA, in its court challenge, said that the decision was unconstitutional and is seeking to have it set aside. That matter is scheduled to be heard in the High Court later this month.
Stabroek News was told by a source at NPTAB that those two companies would now have to re submit the protest from the day the notification is now received, and re file the High Court challenge, respectively.
“It goes without saying, that if there was no award, what are you protesting and what are you filing against? Everything flows from the now… now we have Cabinet’s letter, we will send our letter to Ministry of Health and they will send theirs and so on. Then the bidders will protest and take to court and sue and whatever else but all I am saying (is) it all must follow a sequential pattern according to law,” the source stated.
Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran when questioned on where drugs were being sourced, pointed to Cadogan to answer the question as he said that the Permanent Secretary was “the finance man and deals with those things.”
However, he said that a logical explanation was that since some drugs were bought quarterly there was probably enough to serve the sector’s needs to date and distribution from the old procurement batch was probably taking place.
“Drugs are not just bought from the shelf. Procuring drugs is a process; quarterly sometimes, but as needed. With other particular drugs, it is a complex thing,” he said.
Stabroek News was told that Cadogan was not in office yesterday.
Access to the Permanent Secretary has been difficult.
