Komo-Magarima in Hela province and Nipa Kutubu in Southern Highlands both had their district procurement committees sworn in together with the Port Moresby General Hospital’s special committee on Monday 9th November at the NPC office in Port Moresby.
NPC CEO, Simon Bole addressed the new committees by explaining some of the administrative procedures within a newly set up procurement office. He said the boards are only the end part of the administration powers, while the administrative functions complete the processes.
“Some of the things to be done by the administration as per requirement of the Procurement Act are; having a separate office as a Procurement Office so that all the files of procurement activities are kept. Your board secretary should have an officer in there to do the records of procurement administration function, a tender box and a whiteboard to list down all bids,” Bole said.
He said the reason for having the tender box is for the tenders from bidders to be deposited in there to be locked away. They can only be opened on the closing date.
“And during that time all the bidders will be present during the tender opening. If somebody bring any tender documents or any bids from outside or from his office or her office, those are illegal documents.” Bole added.
Port Moresby General Hospital’s was among the committees, signing as a special committee having a threshold of K1 million. This will be followed by University of Goroka.
CEO of PMGH, Dr. Pake Molumi assured the NP Board that they will try their best to perform to the functions as per the act.
“Since the NPC Act is silent on who should be on the board, the Hospital Board has selected a few members including the current deputy board chair, Kathy Johnson to be the chair person for the Special Procurement Committee of the hospital.” Said Molumi.
Acting District Administrator and CEO of Komo Magarima district expressed gratefulness to the NPC board for allowing a district procurement committee as a pioneer team under the new arrangements as National procurement commission.
“So far contractors come and take the money and runaway, sometimes the job is not completed. So having the Procurement committee at the district level giving authority back to the district, it will ensure that this team will not only sit in the office and go through the tenders but will physically visit the project site and that is one thing I’m happy and pleased to thank the NPC for the initiative taken by the CEO and the Chairman of the NPC. ” Mark Mendeai –A/DA/CEO Komo Magarima
Nipa Kutubu CEO, John Harisol said having the procurement committee at the district level is the right thing to help them in their efforts to move the district forward.
“My district of Nipa-Kutubu is the least developed in Southern Highlands Province but we are doing little bit to move our district forward and this is a relief to me and my treasurer and my project team in creating the district procurement committee in my district.” John Harisol – CEO/DA Nipa Kutubu
NPC CEO Bole emphasized to the committees to abide by the National procurement act and to stay within their limits of threshold of procurement.
