CSO ObserverMember of the

Evaluation Committee

Civil Society Organization

• May have representation in the Evaluation Committee

• As a member of the Evaluation Committee, the CSO needs to ensure that all committee decisions are in accordance with the law

Procurement Guiding Principles(Article 6)

• Transparency• Equal opportunity to compete• Economy and efficiency• Responsibility

These same principles can inform the monitoring framework of civil society groups evaluating public procurement.

CSO Observing Framework

Transparency

Fair competition

Economy/ Efficiency

Accountability

Questions to ask when monitoring

Tips and notes for monitoring

“Is the Evaluation Committee making

decisions according to law?”

Bidding Process(Pre-contracting)

1. Procurement planning2. Preparation of bid documents3. Public announcement of invitations for tendering4. Clarification of Bidding document and Pre-bid

meeting5. Submission of tenders6. Opening of tenders7. Review of tenders8. Evaluation of tenders9. Authorization to enter into a contract

Constitution of the Evaluation Committee

Observers’ Concerns:

• Are majority of the members of the evaluation committee procurement specialists?... Or do they specialize in the item to be procured?

• Are there conflict of interest relations (blood related or past contractual relations) between the evaluation committee members and the bidders?

• Have any of the members committed civil service violations in the past year?

The Observer should comment about the Evaluation Committee’s general

conduct in…

• Ensuring fair competition• Promoting state interests• Maintaining ethical behaviour– Does not accept bribes and other illegal proposals– Inform supervisor of potential conflict of interest– Inform supervisor immediately if tenderer

attempted to influence procurement results

Observers’ reports are submitted to the head of procuring entity

• For projects funded by central state budgetProcuring Entity Goods and Services

Threshold AmountsWorks Threshold Amounts

State administrative body

> MNT 200 million > MNT 500 million

Agency and institutions

MNT 100-200 million

MNT 150-500 million

Buyer < MNT 100 million < MNT 150 million

Observers’ reports are submitted to the head of procuring entity

• For projects funded by local government budget

Procuring Entity Goods and Services Threshold Amounts

Works Threshold Amounts

Governor and capital city mayor

> MNT 50 million > MNT 150 million

Soum/ District governor < MNT 50 million < MNT 150 million

If it’s a joint/integrated procurement….

• Did the joint/integrated procurement produce more economic/ efficient procurement?

• Who are the 2 or more procuring entities that decided to integrate their procurement? What is the justification for integration? Who is the appointed procuring entity?

The procuring entity is responsible for the (Art. 46, 48-53)

• Constitution of the evaluation committee• Oversight of evaluation committee• Plan and contract approval• Oversight on contractual performance of

winning bidder• Recording and reporting of procurement

PROCUREMENT PLANNING

Observers’ Concerns:

• How are the projects packaged? (Annual Procurement Plan)– If goods, works, and services were split, how were they

split?• According to type and similarity of purpose• According to geographical location

• Was the project split to avoid competitive bidding?• Are the cost estimates of goods, works and services

reflective of market prices? (Look at bases of cost estimates)

Observers’ Concerns:• Does the evaluation committee follow the threshold

rules to determine procurement method to use?– Cost estimate > upper ceiling of comparison method

competitive bidding– Upper ceiling for comparison method, direct contracting

• Are foreign tenderers prohibited to participate? What is the cost estimate of the goods, works, or services of the projects that prohibit foreign tenderers?

PREQUALIFICATION

Observers’ Concerns:• Is the prequalification criteria fair, reasonable, and

appropriate?• Are the prequalification criteria publicly announced?

– Where is the public announcement made? Is this sufficient to reach as many potential bidders as possible?

• Were there pre-disqualified (“ineligible”?) bidders?– On what ground? Are the grounds based on Art. 14?

• Is there a blacklist? Is this publicly disclosed?

OPEN PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE

Observers’ Concerns:• On the Bidding documents– Does it contain complete information– How much are the tender documents sold for? – What is the basis for the price of the tender documents? – When were the tender documents finalized and were these

made available to potential bidders immediately?– Were there revisions in the technical specifications? Note

of the changes – what is the nature of the change?– When is the deadline for submission of tenders? Is this

according to the time limits set by law (at least 30 days from public announcement)? Does this give the bidders sufficient time to prepare their tenders?

Observers’ Concerns:• On the evaluation committee’s system of recording

activities– Does it include information on ordering of tender documents by bidders– …. clarificatory questions from bidders– … other related communications/ correspondence– … records (minutes of the meeting) on opening ad evaluation of tenders– Refer to records and note of E.C. conduct vis-à-vis duties to promote fair

competition

• Opening of Tenders– Take note of conduct of opening of bids. Is this done

transparently? Do you have suggestions of making the activity more transparent and effective/ efficient?

Observers’ Concerns:

• Review and Evaluation of Bids–Was the evaluation done objectively?

• Contract Award–Was the award given to the best evaluated bid

offer? –What was the basis for post-disqualification?

Observers’ Concerns:

• Bid Failure– Did the E.C. review the circumstances that caused

the bid failure? –What are the grounds for bid failure?–What are the amendments to the tender

documents?– Are the amendments to the tender documents

sufficient to address bid failure?

EXCEPTIONAL PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES

Observers’ Concerns

• Are the circumstances met to warrant use of exceptional procurement procedures (limited tendering, comparison method, direct contracting)?

• On limited tendering– Was there a rejection of all tenders because responsive

tenders exceeded cost estimates by more than 5% and negotiations to bring down tender price to less than 5% in excess of cost estimate have failed?

– What was the time period during which this method was conducted? Did this follow the time limits?

Obsevers’ Concerns

• On comparison method– Was this a split project? Do you think this project was

split to circumvent competitive bid method?– What was the time period during which this method

was conducted? Did this follow the time limits?• Direct contracting– What led to the use of the direct contracting method?

What were the conditions that justified use of direct contracting?

Thank you!