By Lee Wei Lian - The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — Less than a week after its launch, the government’s new MyProcurement tender portal has come under criticism for its lack of details which makes it difficult for the public to justify some of the tenders that have been awarded.
One of the tenders is a contract to build a RM78 million hostel in Terengganu for 200 students that was awarded to Rafa Sepakat Sdn Bhd, a number that has flabbergasted some industry players.
“It works out to be about RM390,000 per student and my first impression is that you might as well buy each student a link house,” one developer told The Malaysian Insider. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
“But at least the government is brave enough to put the information out there for people to comment.”
He added that the most important thing is the specifications of the hostel — the size, whether there are canteens, swimming pools, libraries and so on.
“If it really works out to be RM390,000 per student, it must be absolutely luxurious,” he said. “But we need to know the specifications to judge. You can tell people you bought a car for one million but if you get a Mercedes S500, then it is ok. A normal hostel should typically cost only around RM50,000.”
Another developer told The Malaysian Insider that a hostel for 200 students should only cost about RM10 million.
The MyProcurement portal (myprocurement.treasury.gov.my) does not reveal detailed tender specifications, and this has already given rise to criticisms from the opposition.
Other tenders that could potentially raise questions are a RM6.5 billion deal to supply the army in Perlis, Kedah and Penang with food, and a RM42.9 million deal to supply lifeboats to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
Without knowing how the number of soldiers that need to be fed and the unit cost of each lifeboat, it will be difficult for the government to justify the expense.
In comparison, the Singapore governemnt’s tender portal (www.gebiz.gov.sg) contains a short and long description, quantity, unit of measure, unit price and total award value, and names and numbers of key ministry contact people, all of which are missing from MyProcurement.
The Singapore portal also allows the public to drill down into the various tenders and quotations to find the address of the winning bidders — whether it is a contract to renovate a hostel or to provide instruments to the school orchestra.
DAP MP Tony Pua today questioned MyProcurement’s accuracy and told reporters in Parliament today that the MyProcurement Portal launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last week severely lacked data “to make informed judgments with regards to a particular contract award.”
“While the value of (the RM6.5 billion) contract for food items would have certainly raised eyebrows, I’d like to believe that there are some decimal point errors involved,” said Pua.
Parliament Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said that the objective of the portal is transparency and if it was not sufficiently apparent, the pubic should demand more transparency and clarifications.
“If it is still not transparent, then people should demand,” Azmi, who is also the Umno MP for Padang Besar, told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.
“Weaknesses should be improved. The government needs feedback and it is up to the public to make suggestions. The portal was put up by civil servants and sometimes they don’t see things from the public’s perspective,”
MyProcurement is part of the Najib administration’s effort to introduce greater transparency in government tenders as part of its efforts to reform the economy and make it more competitive.
“In line with the government’s aspiration to eradicate corruption, we made fighting corruption one of the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) through the Government Transformation Programme (GTP). Among the areas emphasised is the improvement of transparency and integrity in the government’s procurement process,” said Najib in his speech at the launch last week.
While some of hailed measures such as MyProcurement and say that it is a “good first step”, Pua criticised it saying that it has not gone far enough as the GTP roadmap called for all procurement contracts to be disclosed publicly, including directly negotiated contracts, which had not been adhered to.
“Therefore Datuk Seri Najib’s response towards publishing information of contracts which have been awarded without any tenders that they will not be made publicly available is most disappointing, and raises strong doubts as to whether he has the political will to carry out the necessary reforms to wipe out rent-seeking and patronage which is so entrenched in our government procurement system,” said Pua.
KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — Less than a week after its launch, the government’s new MyProcurement tender portal has come under criticism for its lack of details which makes it difficult for the public to justify some of the tenders that have been awarded.
One of the tenders is a contract to build a RM78 million hostel in Terengganu for 200 students that was awarded to Rafa Sepakat Sdn Bhd, a number that has flabbergasted some industry players.
“It works out to be about RM390,000 per student and my first impression is that you might as well buy each student a link house,” one developer told The Malaysian Insider. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
“But at least the government is brave enough to put the information out there for people to comment.”
He added that the most important thing is the specifications of the hostel — the size, whether there are canteens, swimming pools, libraries and so on.
“If it really works out to be RM390,000 per student, it must be absolutely luxurious,” he said. “But we need to know the specifications to judge. You can tell people you bought a car for one million but if you get a Mercedes S500, then it is ok. A normal hostel should typically cost only around RM50,000.”
Another developer told The Malaysian Insider that a hostel for 200 students should only cost about RM10 million.
The MyProcurement portal (myprocurement.treasury.gov.my) does not reveal detailed tender specifications, and this has already given rise to criticisms from the opposition.
Other tenders that could potentially raise questions are a RM6.5 billion deal to supply the army in Perlis, Kedah and Penang with food, and a RM42.9 million deal to supply lifeboats to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.
Without knowing how the number of soldiers that need to be fed and the unit cost of each lifeboat, it will be difficult for the government to justify the expense.
In comparison, the Singapore governemnt’s tender portal (www.gebiz.gov.sg) contains a short and long description, quantity, unit of measure, unit price and total award value, and names and numbers of key ministry contact people, all of which are missing from MyProcurement.
The Singapore portal also allows the public to drill down into the various tenders and quotations to find the address of the winning bidders — whether it is a contract to renovate a hostel or to provide instruments to the school orchestra.
DAP MP Tony Pua today questioned MyProcurement’s accuracy and told reporters in Parliament today that the MyProcurement Portal launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last week severely lacked data “to make informed judgments with regards to a particular contract award.”
“While the value of (the RM6.5 billion) contract for food items would have certainly raised eyebrows, I’d like to believe that there are some decimal point errors involved,” said Pua.
Parliament Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said that the objective of the portal is transparency and if it was not sufficiently apparent, the pubic should demand more transparency and clarifications.
“If it is still not transparent, then people should demand,” Azmi, who is also the Umno MP for Padang Besar, told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.
“Weaknesses should be improved. The government needs feedback and it is up to the public to make suggestions. The portal was put up by civil servants and sometimes they don’t see things from the public’s perspective,”
MyProcurement is part of the Najib administration’s effort to introduce greater transparency in government tenders as part of its efforts to reform the economy and make it more competitive.
“In line with the government’s aspiration to eradicate corruption, we made fighting corruption one of the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) through the Government Transformation Programme (GTP). Among the areas emphasised is the improvement of transparency and integrity in the government’s procurement process,” said Najib in his speech at the launch last week.
While some of hailed measures such as MyProcurement and say that it is a “good first step”, Pua criticised it saying that it has not gone far enough as the GTP roadmap called for all procurement contracts to be disclosed publicly, including directly negotiated contracts, which had not been adhered to.
“Therefore Datuk Seri Najib’s response towards publishing information of contracts which have been awarded without any tenders that they will not be made publicly available is most disappointing, and raises strong doubts as to whether he has the political will to carry out the necessary reforms to wipe out rent-seeking and patronage which is so entrenched in our government procurement system,” said Pua.
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