Examination of Contractors’ Complaints on Selection Fairness in Tendering Cases From Public Procurement Appeals Authority Tanzania

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze on pre-contract cases which have been filed and concluded by the Public Procurement Appeals Authority or reported to Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, believing that there is unfair selection practice conducted. Public sector in Tanzania is governed by the Public Procurement Act No.21 of 2004 and its established regulations whereby it provides framework for carrying out procurement using public funds. The underlying principle is to obtain competitive price through open competition process which is transparent and non discriminatory amongst bidders. PPRA Annual Procurement Evaluation Report on the section of Procurement compliance and Complaints reviewed and PPAA Detailed Appeals were used and come up with total of 90 complaints appeals among them 29 are from contractors, 54 Suppliers & Other Service Providers and 7 Consultants. The cases study were chosen due to reason that is a serial of well documented complaints whereby three dimension views obtained such as ; Procuring Entities objections, Explanation from contractors and the conclusion of the mediate which is the Authority ruling as the procurement regulations enforcer. The study finds that; selection of contractors for public works are not being followed fairly by not abiding to PPRA Act and its regulations and it is a problem which is exists in the Industry. Furthermore, it was found that there is validity of complaints by exploring the existence of the tenders appealed where all the detailed grounds are specified and 11 (37.9%) complaints and their grounds were accepted by PPAA and the rest which is 17 (62.1%) Withheld, whereby for accepted complaints the Appeals Authority granted appellant prays such as PE‟s have been ordered to re-evaluate the tender, pay compensation and start the tendering procedure in order to attain value for money for public projects, the accepted or valid complaints is not to be ignored for developing country like Tanzania when it comes to value for money. It is recommended that all construction stakeholders should abide into Professionalism and implement Public procurement Act 2011 and its regulations in order to archive integrity and transparency in the industry.