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Local procurement directive to support emerging economic recovery
STAFF REPORTER BUSINESS KHOMAS
2019-05-28 10:44:13 1 months ago 1,921 0
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WINDHOEK – Late last week, the Minister of Finance, Calle Schlettwein, issued an economy-wide procurement directive on the reservation of procurement of goods, services and works to local suppliers in terms of Section 73 of the Public Procurement Act.
The measure directs public entities to source specific categories of goods, services and works produced or manufactured locally and to the extent such goods, services and works are available locally, before procuring these from somewhere else.
In particular, the directive extends procurement reservation to 100 percent Namibian-owned small and medium enterprises and entities that are 51 percent or more equity owned by Namibian citizens, in case of joint ventures. In a joint venture, each entity of the partnership should have at least 51 percent or more equity owned by Namibian citizens, and goods, services and works to be so reserved must have at least 65 percent local content, with categories such professional services and labour works to have 100 percent local content.
It is also expected that entities benefiting from this directive shall have a bank account at a Namibian banking institution.
This latest directive replaces the one Schlettwein issued on February 26, 2019, on the procurement of meat, fresh produce and related by-products north of the Cordon Fence, but retains the essence of such directive, requiring public entities north of the Cordon Fence to reserve the sourcing of such goods locally.
“This directive gives effect to the local economic development objectives engendered in the Public Procurement Act. Indeed, it is part of the package of structural policy reforms to support emerging economic recovery and enhancing domestic productive capacity, thus creating wealth and jobs locally. I call on all public entities and their procurement units to adhere to this measure promptly. I also call on the beneficiaries of this measure to ensure standards of cost efficiency, quality and reliability of goods, services and works procured. I call on the private sector to emulate the developmental objectives espoused in this measure,” said Schlettwein.
He added that the latest directive would continue until relevant regulations have been enacted under the Procurement Act.
The implementation of these measures would be accompanied by monitoring and evaluation to assess the intended impact and compliance thereof. |
