MULTIMILLION STATIONERY TENDER RACE BEGINS

MBABANE – The race is on. A total of 18 stationery companies have submitted bids to be selected by the Ministry of Education and Training as suppliers of stationery packs for an undisclosed number of public primary schools for the 2019 academic year.

Progress, Baobab Express, Step Up, Mdzandza Supplies, KNGEE, Super Stationery, Babylon Investments, Swazi Textbooks and Stationery, Office Nurse, Umbango Investments, Afritool and HM Stationery among others, had their bids read out during a tender opening exercise conducted at the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini’s Treasury Department’s offices boardroom on Friday morning.

The public tender opening, where representatives of all tenderers were in attendance, was conducted by Mncedisi Ndwandwe of the Ministry of Finance.

Disclosed

The tender, whose exact value has not been disclosed by the ministry, will be undertaken in accordance with the Public Procurement Act of 2011.
However, during for the 2018 academic year, where the best evaluated tenderers included Baobab Express, Super Stationery, Afritool, and Progress Stationery, together with Swazi Textbooks and Stationery was approximately E7.6 million.

In terms of Section 45 of the Public Procurement Act No. 7 of 2011 (the Act), following a competitive bidding process, notice should be given by the approvals authority (tender committee/board) when a contract award decision for the tender has been reached.

Award

Further, it should be noted that in terms of Section 45(2) of the Act, a contract award decision does not constitute a contract until such time when all tenderers who submitted bids have been allowed a 10 working days period for submission of any application for review in line with Section 45(4), 46, and 47 of the Act.

For the companies to proceed to the evaluation stage, they ought to have submitted a general receipt (for the tender document), trading licence, tax clearance certificate from the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA), Form J, showing directors of the company, Form C, showing the number of shares held by company directors, labour compliance certificate from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Swaziland National Provident Fund (SNPF) contribution certificate, Value Added Tax (VAT) registration certificate and a E15 000 bond as security together with a declaration of eligibility.

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