Technical Evaluation Process, Challenges and strategies

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
SENSITIZATION TRAINING FOR STAFF
INVOLVED IN TECHNICAL EVALUATION
HELD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 28TH, 2015 AT
THE CENTRAL CATERING UNIT (CCU)
University of Nairobi
ISO 9001:2008
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TOPIC:
TECHNICAL EVALUATION
PROCESS, CHALLENGES
AND STRATEGIES.
PRESENTER:
University of Nairobi
JOSEPH M.K. MOKAYA
PROCUREMENT MANAGER
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INTRODUCTION
Technical Evaluation is a mandatory
process for all tenders/bids whose value
is above Kshs.500,000.00 (Regulation
2006 (16). This means that no agenda can
be tabled before the Tender Committee
(except Direct Procurement) without an
evaluation report.
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ISO 9001:2008
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EVALUATION PROCESS
The evaluation process is fairly straight forward:
i. Preliminary assessment
ii. Mandatory criteria assessment and confirmation
iii. Technical and capability evaluation
iv. Financial assessment
v. Site visit/due diligence confirmation
vi. Price comparison
vii. Recommendation
viii. Affirmation and signing report
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Depending on how the above processes
are approached and handled the
evaluation can turn out to be
complicated,
messy
and
selfincriminating. It is for this reason that we
are no longer keen on site visits. We
favour “Due Diligence”.
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i) PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT
Sorting out and collating bid
documents against tender opening
minutes.
Checking conformity to tender in
question (responsiveness)
Checking for arithmetic errors (Public
Procurement & Disposal Act, 2005 (63)
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In case of errors, the bidder must be
requested to concur or reject thereby being
eliminated (in case of rejection of the error).
The practice in the University is that
communication to suppliers is done by the
Procurement Manager. The bid may also be
disqualified at this stage if found not to be
responsive to the tender in question.
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ii)
MANDATORY CRITERIA
A bidder who fails to meet any of the
criterion specified in the tender document
is automatically disqualified.
The
committee is not allowed to include any
other criteria in this stage however
compelling it finds it. The criteria for which
a firm has been disqualified must be
indicated clearly in the report.
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iii)
TECHNICAL AND CAPABILITY
ASSESSMENT
Conformity to the technical
specification is ascertained. Here
the user and technical expert
opinion is key.
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 Some Technical Specifications have
tolerance level while others must be
met 100% for the item/equipment to
function. This must be indicated in the
specifications which suppliers are given
in the tender document. If this is not
indicated in the tender and hence
technical evaluation report can be
challenged.
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 The technical capability of the supplier,
may also be checked – equipment, staff,
experience, similar projects carried out
(we had a big challenge in the UON
Towers on this). It is good practice to
include the required level of capabilities
and experiences to avoid doubt and
frivolous petitions.
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iv)
FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT
This is normally guided by Finance (qualified
accountants). We rely on 3 years audited
accounts to derive financial ratios and
solvency. Sometimes we require transacted
business in a financial year (Insurance
Kshs.500,000,000.00). For Youth, Women and
People with Disability we require six (6)
months bank statement.
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v) SITE VISITS/DUE DILIGENCE
We are of the view that site visits have
not been very useful. We now seem to
favour Due Diligence confidential
information. However, when carried
out professionally site visits are useful.
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vi)
PRICE COMPARISON
The committee may do the price
analysis and prepare comparison
schedule.
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vii) RECOMMENDATION
The Committee will be required to make
specific recommendation to the Tender
Committee. It may recommend one bidder
among those found qualified, normally the
lowest evaluated bidder. The Committee
may opt to recommend all the qualified
firms from which price comparison
schedule will be worked out.
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viii) AFFIRMATION AND SIGNING OF
THE REPORT
Members of the Committee should make
declaration that the report is theirs and contents
are true and can be relied on to make a decision.
All members of the committee individually sign
the report to take responsibility.
The above constitutes the summary of the
process of technical evaluation.
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CHALLENGES
A few of the challenges experienced include:
i. Delay
ii. Setting of cut-off marks 70%, higher or
below
iii. Contradicting positions and bias
iv. Attempt to influence report by
suppliers – high stake tenders
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WAY FORWARD
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Greater dedication to evaluation
Timely reports
Professionalism
Tender evaluation part of PC.
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CONCLUSION
We look forward to quality timely reports.
THANK YOU
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