Best Practices and Issues

 Legislation governing Procurement in Zimbabwe ◦ The Procurement Act, 1999 ◦ The Procurement Regulations, 2002 ◦ The Procurement Regulations (Amended), 2003  Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act (Chapter 15:03)  Dangerous Drugs Act (Chapter 15:02)

 The Procurement Act provides for the establishment of the State Procurement Board ◦ the central government body whose function is to procure services on behalf of government departments, and to ensure compliance with the procurement laws  The Regulations are based on the Model Law on Procurement of Goods and Construction adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in 1993

 The regulations allow for two kinds of preference to be granted: ◦ A 10% preference may be granted to local contractors over external contractors ◦ A 10% preference may be granted to previously economically disadvantaged contractors  Both preferences offer opportunities for local manufacturers participating in tenders  A review of the Procurement Act is expected in line with Section 315 of the new Constitution of Zimbabwe

 Conflict of Industrial Policy and Public Health Policy  Public Health Policy seeks to “stretch” the dollar to achieve maximum mileage and improve access  Industrial Policy requires that local manufacturers be supported/protected although prices may not be competitive which reduces quantity procured for each dollar  Many countries in this situation

 The Procurement Regulations outline the various thresholds, and the procurement methods to be used to for each:  Competitive Quote: Up to $10,000 ◦ The buyer approached a limited number of selected suppliers (minimum of three (3)) for price quotations  Informal Tender: $10,000 to $300,000 ◦ Tender is floated for a minimum of four (4) weeks, and evaluated by NatPharm. A report is presented to the State Procurement Board in retrospect

 Formal Tender: Above $300,000 ◦ Bids are invited from manufacturers or their representatives on a local or worldwide basis ◦ Bids are subject to terms and conditionds set out in the tender document ◦ There are no limits of values or quantities with this particular type ◦ Generally administered through the State Procurement Board

 In 2011 NatPharm received approval from the State Procurement Board to internally administer all tenders for pharmaceuticals, even those beyond the thresholds for informal tenders

 Little procurement done by NatPharm for government, and over reliance on donations  Little or no pooled procurement at the moment, with government facilities making individual purchases through competitive bidding  This is resulting in a lot of purchases being made from “middle-men” and well as higher prices due to low buying power and low attractiveness of these institutions to suppliers

 Increased pooling of national requirements for government institutions will bring benefits of economies of scale  NatPharm is also a more attractive buyer to suppliers than individual health facilities which have a record of delayed payments to suppliers