Mbabane: The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) on behalf of the government has procured COVID-19 related goods and services costing over E50 million.
This was revealed by the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku at the House of Assembly on Wednesday when reading his Ministerial statement to the Parliament.
Masuku said to date items worth more than E50 million have been delivered by a total of 35 suppliers selected from 85 who tendered or expressed interest to supply using criteria based on competence and pricing.
Masuku said after recognizing the scale of the emergency (outbreak of COVID-19) a procurement team composed of procurement officers from the Ministry of Health and NDMA was speedily assembled. Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ESPPRA) was requested to provide advice on existing procurement laws to ensure that the law was followed.
A letter authorizing NDMA to procure using approved deviation section was issued out to NDMA by ESPPRA. Masuku said government made sure that the emergency situation was not taken advantage of through corrupt practises. He said over 85 companies expressed interest to supply and 35 were shortlisted and considered eligible to supply government through NDMA.
The goods and services that were procured includes Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Pharmaceuticals, hospital Equipment, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene material, Food Commodities and Fuel COVID-19 fleet of vehicles.
Meanwhile the total commitments towards the COVID-19 Emergency by government (E140, 302, 970), development partners (E 233, 896, 135), civil society organisations (E14, 610, 000), the private sector (E 37, 495, 885) and Kirsh Foundation (E 188, 000, 000) amounts to E 614, 140, 763).
Masuku said of the total commitments E 419, 362, 340 has been used as of October 13, 2020.
He said initially, PPE was scarce globally and therefore expensive. International travel was banned and it became difficult to source commodities and prices escalated. This led to the shortage of some of the most important material and equipment in the country such as PPE. He revealed that some contracts were cancelled due to failure to deliver by suppliers. He added that some critical elements are still scarce and expensive such as the extraction kits for testing.
Masuku went on to say that prices have since declined and the focus now is to work with broader government to ensure production of COVID-19 material in the country.
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