Airports Fiji Limited has today refuted the comments made by the Public Accounts Committee and stresses that they had a Procurement Policy in 2009.
AFL Chairman, Faiz Khan said their records show that the then AFL Board had approved and set a procurement policy on 28th February, 2008.
He said therefore the issue of not having a procurement policy in 2009 does not reconcile with what the Deputy Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee has stated with regards to AFL.
However, Deputy Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, Adi Laufitu Malani said they are basing their comments and report on the Auditor General’s Performance Audit Report of 2009 where it clearly shows that an approved procurement or purchasing policy for the purchase of all goods and services was not provided.
Malani confirms to Fijivillage that the government entities that did not have procurement policies in place at the time of the audit in 2009 were Rewa Rice Limited, Airports Fiji Limited, Fiji Hardwood Corporation Limited, Unit Trust of Fiji, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation and Fiji Development Bank.
She said after their review last month, the policies has been given by the entities and AFL’s Procurement Policy is from 2011.
Malani also states that Rewa Rice Limited only provided written procedures, not the Procurement Policy itself.
Malani has told us that checks have to be carried on the how goods and services were purchased prior to the policy implementation.
Although the Public Accounts Committee does not specify the government entities, the committee said the review of the policies at the time of the Auditor General’s Report, found indications of the lack of transparency in the procurement process.
It said some government entities did not call for tender, instead their policy only required three quotations from suppliers.
The audit states that there was non-existence of pre-established criteria to evaluate tenders, no clear instructions of the procurement process from the request process to the actual delivery of goods and services and there was unavailability of procurement procedures and policies in a manner that would be available for public viewing.
According to the Accounts Committee, the audit further states that none of the procurement policies in 9 government entities had identified the requirement for employees to declare any conflict of interest in the procurement of goods and services.
It also states that only 2 of the 9 entities policies reviewed provided for request on expression on interest which is essential where information is sought from the market about a range of potential suppliers.
We are currently trying to speak to the Public Enterprises Ministry and to all the government entities highlighted in the Auditor General and Public Accounts Committee reports.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
