Lawsuits from aggrieved bidders swamp PPADB
Isaac Pinielo | Tuesday February 14, 2017 15:54
Addressing the media on Friday, PPADB executive chairperson, Bridget John noted that this is a major problem, especially in the procurement of construction services as it leads to delays in project implementation.
“Most litigious matters take many years to resolve, depending on the complexity of the case,” she said.
Apart from the delays in project execution, John stated that litigation could also be very costly, adding that it can result in both the tender board and the bidders spending exorbitant amounts of money trying to settle legal cases. According to her, there are currently three cases before courts where losing contractors claim they should have been awarded tenders.
Lately, the board succeeded in two appeals that were before the Court of Appeal, one against Zac Construction and the other against Varsha Enterprises.
Zac Construction had filed an appeal last year challenging an earlier High Court judgement in which the company had sought the court to review and set aside the PPADB’s decision not to award it a P330 million tender for the construction of infrastructure development in Metsimotlhabe.
The other appeal was filed by the board in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development whereby the duo sought the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Court’s judgement and an order that was in favour of Varsha Enterprises.
John indicated that given that procurement by its nature creates winners and losers, there would always be aggrieved bidders who seek to challenge awarded decisions.
She said although there is the Independent Complaints Review Committee (ICRC) which reviews disputes, some dissatisfied bidders opt to directly approach courts without following the appeal process, “although that is discouraged as the court process is lengthy, costly and projects are delayed”.
She said given the tendency by some bidders that would have lost tenders to frustrate project implementation through litigation, the board and its committee would consider contractors litigation history before award of tenders.
She indicated that the tender board gets to spend about P1 million each year as a result of litigations.
On top of that, it has been confirmed that the value of these issues in construction contracts amounted to multi-millions of pula, which is estimated to eating away a large chunk of the country’s budget.
John appealed to bidders to first exhaust the administrative review process through the ICRC, which she said is faster than the court route.