CSO Observer Member of the Evaluation Committee

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CSO ObserverMember of the Evaluation Committee
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Civil Society Organization

• May have representation in the Evaluation
  Committee
• As a member of the Evaluation Committee, the CSO
  needs to ensure that all committee decisions are
  in accordance with the law

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Procurement Guiding Principles(Article 6)

• Transparency
• Equal opportunity to compete
• Economy and efficiency
• Responsibility

These same principles can inform the monitoring
framework of civil society groups evaluating
public procurement.
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CSO Observing Framework
Questions to ask when monitoring Tips and notes
for monitoring Is the Evaluation Committee
making decisions according to law?
Transparency
Fair competition
Economy/ Efficiency
Accountability
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Bidding Process(Pre-contracting)

• Procurement planning
• Preparation of bid documents
• Public announcement of invitations for tendering
• Clarification of Bidding document and Pre-bid
  meeting
• Submission of tenders
• Opening of tenders
• Review of tenders
• Evaluation of tenders
• Authorization to enter into a contract

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Constitution of the Evaluation Committee
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Observers Concerns

• Are majority of the members of the evaluation
  committee procurement specialists?... Or do they
  specialize in the item to be procured?
• Are there conflict of interest relations (blood
  related or past contractual relations) between
  the evaluation committee members and the bidders?
• Have any of the members committed civil service
  violations in the past year?

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The Observer should comment about the Evaluation
Committees general conduct in

• Ensuring fair competition
• Promoting state interests
• Maintaining ethical behaviour
• Does not accept bribes and other illegal
  proposals
• Inform supervisor of potential conflict of
  interest
• Inform supervisor immediately if tenderer
  attempted to influence procurement results

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Observers reports are submitted to the head of
procuring entity

• For projects funded by central state budget

Procuring Entity Goods and Services Threshold Amounts Works Threshold Amounts
State administrative body gt MNT 200 million gt MNT 500 million
Agency and institutions MNT 100-200 million MNT 150-500 million
Buyer lt MNT 100 million lt MNT 150 million
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Observers reports are submitted to the head of
procuring entity

• For projects funded by local government budget

Procuring Entity Goods and Services Threshold Amounts Works Threshold Amounts
Governor and capital city mayor gt MNT 50 million gt MNT 150 million
Soum/ District governor lt MNT 50 million lt MNT 150 million
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If its a joint/integrated procurement.

• Did the joint/integrated procurement produce more
  economic/ efficient procurement?
• Who are the 2 or more procuring entities that
  decided to integrate their procurement? What is
  the justification for integration? Who is the
  appointed procuring entity?

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The procuring entity is responsible for the (Art.
46, 48-53)

• Constitution of the evaluation committee
• Oversight of evaluation committee
• Plan and contract approval
• Oversight on contractual performance of winning
  bidder
• Recording and reporting of procurement

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Procurement planning
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Observers Concerns

• How are the projects packaged? (Annual
  Procurement Plan)
• If goods, works, and services were split, how
  were they split?
• According to type and similarity of purpose
• According to geographical location
• Was the project split to avoid competitive
  bidding?
• Are the cost estimates of goods, works and
  services reflective of market prices? (Look at
  bases of cost estimates)

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Observers Concerns

• Does the evaluation committee follow the
  threshold rules to determine procurement method
  to use?
• Cost estimate gt upper ceiling of comparison
  method ? competitive bidding
• Upper ceiling for comparison method, direct
  contracting
• Are foreign tenderers prohibited to participate?
  What is the cost estimate of the goods, works, or
  services of the projects that prohibit foreign
  tenderers?

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Prequalification
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Observers Concerns

• Is the prequalification criteria fair,
  reasonable, and appropriate?
• Are the prequalification criteria publicly
  announced?
• Where is the public announcement made? Is this
  sufficient to reach as many potential bidders as
  possible?
• Were there pre-disqualified (ineligible?)
  bidders?
• On what ground? Are the grounds based on Art. 14?
• Is there a blacklist? Is this publicly disclosed?

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OPEN PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE
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Observers Concerns

• On the Bidding documents
• Does it contain complete information
• How much are the tender documents sold for?
• What is the basis for the price of the tender
  documents?
• When were the tender documents finalized and were
  these made available to potential bidders
  immediately?
• Were there revisions in the technical
  specifications? Note of the changes what is the
  nature of the change?
• When is the deadline for submission of tenders?
  Is this according to the time limits set by law
  (at least 30 days from public announcement)? Does
  this give the bidders sufficient time to prepare
  their tenders?

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Observers Concerns

• On the evaluation committees system of recording
  activities
• Does it include information on ordering of tender
  documents by bidders
• . clarificatory questions from bidders
• other related communications/ correspondence
• records (minutes of the meeting) on opening ad
  evaluation of tenders
• Refer to records and note of E.C. conduct
  vis-à-vis duties to promote fair competition
• Opening of Tenders
• Take note of conduct of opening of bids. Is this
  done transparently? Do you have suggestions of
  making the activity more transparent and
  effective/ efficient?

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Observers Concerns

• Review and Evaluation of Bids
• Was the evaluation done objectively?
• Contract Award
• Was the award given to the best evaluated bid
  offer?
• What was the basis for post-disqualification?

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Observers Concerns

• Bid Failure
• Did the E.C. review the circumstances that caused
  the bid failure?
• What are the grounds for bid failure?
• What are the amendments to the tender documents?
• Are the amendments to the tender documents
  sufficient to address bid failure?

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EXCEPTIONAL PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES
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Observers Concerns

• Are the circumstances met to warrant use of
  exceptional procurement procedures (limited
  tendering, comparison method, direct
  contracting)?
• On limited tendering
• Was there a rejection of all tenders because
  responsive tenders exceeded cost estimates by
  more than 5 and negotiations to bring down
  tender price to less than 5 in excess of cost
  estimate have failed?
• What was the time period during which this method
  was conducted? Did this follow the time limits?

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Obsevers Concerns

• On comparison method
• Was this a split project? Do you think this
  project was split to circumvent competitive bid
  method?
• What was the time period during which this method
  was conducted? Did this follow the time limits?
• Direct contracting
• What led to the use of the direct contracting
  method? What were the conditions that justified
  use of direct contracting?

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Thank you!