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Daniel Nemukuyu Investigations Editor

The Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) has approved a list of companies to offer security services at the country’s borders, but there are now concerns that the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) appears to be taking long to implement the decision.

This has resulted in ZIMRA retaining firms whose contracts expired in December last year through monthly extensions of their contracts, instead of going for a permanent solution as approved by PRAZ.

The tender process of selecting the security firms started in July last year.

PRAZ chief executive Mr Clever Ruswa said the Special Procurement Oversight Committee (SPOC) in March this year endorsed the list of security companies recommended by ZIMRA, and it was now up to the authority to implement the decision.

“The ZIMRA accounting officer submitted the security services tender on March 2, 2022 for review by SPOC and the SPOC Resolution 0188 of March 10 2022 cleared the accounting officer’s proposal to award the tender as per their recommendations and communication was done to the accounting officer on March 14, 2022,” said Mr Ruswa.

ZIMRA, in July last year, advertised the tender under NCB30/2021 for security services, but the process was cancelled after a number of security companies had already responded.

Five months later, the companies that had responded to the July advertisement were asked to re-submit their tender documents.

That delay was caused by the need to deal with the regulator wanting a more competitive bid.

Instead of acting on the PRAZ approvals, sources said ZIMRA was now seeking to reverse the process.

Mr Ruswa said the SPOC, in December last year, once objected to the manner in which ZIMRA intended to procure the security services, resulting in a delay.

According to Mr Ruswa, ZIMRA’s standard bidding document that time was weak as it sought to block other bidders and limit competition.

“The standard bidding document had a weakness in that it requested bidders to submit at least two trade references from reputable financial institutions and also proof of CIT vehicles which are less than seven-years-old, requirements which unnecessarily limited competition in violation of the objectives of the public procurement set under Section 4 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act,” he said.

“Therefore, the accounting officer was advised to craft a new standard bidding document in a manner that achieves the objective of the public procurement of promoting competition as set out under Section 4 of the Act.”

It is the new standard document crafted by ZIMRA that was then approved by PRAZ.

ZIMRA spokesperson Mr Francis Chimanda said the tender was advertised and cancelled in terms of Section 7 of the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Assets Act (PPDPA Act).

“All participating bidders were notified in writing in December 2021 in terms of Section 42 of the PPDPA Act,” he said.

“A restricted bid was organised with the same participating bidders following approval from PRAZ as guided by the PPDPA Act, the same bid is currently under evaluation.

“The procurement proceedings are aligned with the PPDPA Act timelines in terms of evaluation and contract award.”

Mr Chimanda said his organisation did not condone corruption.

“ZIMRA does not condone corruption and members of the public with information that can help unearth corruption are encouraged to approach the Authority which will institute investigations,” he said.

At the moment, ZIMRA’s region 1 establishments (Harare, Chirundu, Nyamapanda and others) are manned by Modern Security, while Peace Security secures region 2 which covers areas like Bulawayo, Plumtree and Victoria Falls.

Nobel Security operates in Beitbridge.