Plans to integrate and computerise Zimbabwe’s public transport data have been held back by a tender row pitting serial government contractor Univern Enterprises and a South African rival, Mopane Projects.
The Administrative Court nullified the tender award to Univern following objections by Mopane, whose local partner is ENG Capital co-founder, Nyasha Watyoka.
The case is now before the Supreme Court, after Univern appealed against the High Court decision.
Two years ago, government invited bids for the development and installation of a Road Motor Transportation Information System under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
Univern, which is the transport ministry’s biggest supplier, was named winner of the bid, despite having been disqualified earlier in the process for failing to comply with tender conditions to separate their technical and financial proposals.
The firm had also failed to stage demonstrations of certain technical features and functions of their proposed system.
Mopane outscored Univern in the technical evaluation, scoring 88,6 percent compared to its rival’s 81,6 percent.
Both firms qualified for the financial proposal stage, while eight others fell away having failed to score above 70 percent.
Ultimately, Univern, which offered a significantly lower tender price, $170 000, against Mopane’s $837 000, was declared winner of the bid.
Fait accompli?
The court battle has not stopped Univern from showcasing its integrated traffic system.
Over the past few weeks, senior government officials have toured Univern’s facilities to view demonstrations.
While nullifying Univern’s tender win in an October 2016 decision, Administrative Court judge, Herbert Mandeya noted that the price differences between the competing bids had ultimately tipped the scale in Univern’s favour.“But the second point to note is that the third respondent’s (Univern’s) was by far inferior to the appellant’s product. That may explain the vast difference in the cost of the two products,” Mandeya said in his judgment.
“In fact, one wonders whether it was wise to purchase a product whose features the supplier could not fully demonstrate; whose business procedures and objectives were partial and was not fully functional. It appears this appeal has saved the country much embarrassment.”
Serial winner
Univern, which sometimes trades as Southern Region Trading Company, also holds several lucrative contracts with the transport ministry, some of them without going to tender.
The company has supplied the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) with number plates since 2005.
Univern also won a 2012 tender to supply 40 motorised graders worth $8 million to the Zimbabwe National Roads Authority (Zinara).
While the rural district councils which got the equipment protested that they were “snow graders” which did not meet their specifications, Zinara went on and procured a further 40 graders through Univern for another $8 million, this time without going to tender.
Zinara justified not going to tender, saying the second purchase “used the results of the first tender and Zinara merely had to rise on the first tender”.
In 2013, Univern struck another deal with Zinara, for vehicle licencing software valued at $54 million, also without going through tender.
According to a report by the auditor general, the cost of the software was not stated upfront, but the agreement would see Zinara pay Univern 18,5 percent of total revenue collected through the system for 10 years.
By December 2013, Univern had been paid almost 40 percent of the software cost, getting $21 million as commission, with nine more years to go.
In terms of the contract, which the auditor general suggested should be reviewed to lower the commission, Univern would earn nearly $40 million annually from Zinara’s average $200 million annual vehicle licence revenue.
Univern stands to receive over $300 million for the duration of the contract.
Concern
Zinara management made an undertaking to the auditor general to negotiate with Univern for the reduction of the commission percentage, with a committee reportedly having been set to pursue this task.
It is not clear if this has been done, but in January 2016, Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister, Joram Gumbo, expressed concern over Zinara’s relationship with Univern.
‘Government is gravely concerned at the intricate contractual relationship that now exists between Zinara and Univern,” Gumbo told Zinara management a few months after his appointment as minister.
Univern also partners Zinara in the administration of about 20 toll gates, another contract the company got without going through tender. Financial Gazette
