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Farirai Machivenyika-Senior Reporter

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development is working on a pricing framework for ministries, departments and agencies to guide them in their procurement of goods and services to prevent suppliers from overcharging them, director for expenditure management in Treasury Mr Nobert Machinjike said yesterday.

Mr Machinjike appeared before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee in its ongoing probe of Parliament’s own procurement after Treasury cancelled an overvalued tender it awarded two companies for laptops and desktop computers.

Blinart Investments wanted to supply 79 desktop computers at US$3 076,61 each and Mid-End Computers and Hardware wanted to supply 173 laptops at US$9 264,48 each, well above the going prices for new equipment in Zimbabwe. 

The Treasury blocked the deal and the two companies have since been blacklisted from participating in Government tenders.

Yesterday, Mr Machinjike said Treasury was working on measures to ensure that ministries and others do not overpay for goods and services they procure.

“The ministry of finance is working on a framework to come up with a standardised pricing for goods and services which are commonly used in government ministries and other departments,” he said. 

“To that effect one of the first categories was completed on February 2, and we are still working in the other category to ensure that this overpricing does not happen again, where you see the pricing is varying from one ministry to another or from one agent to another.” 

The completed category was for groceries and other office goods used on a regular basis.

The ministry was also managing payment for goods and services to ensure that everything being bought was budgeted for.

“Coming to this year in terms of how we are managing the payments, we have worked on a framework of improving the cashflow management and this deals with financing what has been budgeted for and also ensuring that there is price stability,” Mr Machinjike said.

Responding to questions on what, if any, disciplinary measures had been instituted against parliament officials that had approved the inflated tenders, Mr Machinjike said such measures were the responsibility of Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda as the accounting officer.

All the Treasury could do was cease payments.

“When you see that you’’re about to lose resources from a financial perspective you stop payment,” he said. 

“The motive of the ministry is to ensure that there is value for money in terms of things that have been procured. 

“We need to ensure that the procurement process is not marred by these irregularities which we have seen previously.”

In cancelling the tenders last year, Finance and Economic Development, Permanent Secretary Mr George Guvamatanga said agreeing to high prices was against a directive that all ministries, departments and agencies had to ensure value for money in procurement.

 “Notwithstanding the high prices, this tender award is in complete disregard of the Treasury minute dated 3 August 2022, directing line Ministries to ensure value for money for Government and hence, to rationalise all procurement processes with a view to operating within the confines of the willing buyer willing seller foreign exchange rate,” Mr Guvamatanga said.