Malawi: AMPROC to Audit 60 Malawian Institutions

American Procurement Company Inc (Amproc), an American firm, which provides procurement audits in governments and private corporations, has won a deal to audit 60 institutions in Malawi.

This will bring to six, the number of African countries the firm with its overall headquarters in Washington D.C, will be providing audit, monitoring and evaluation services. The others are Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria.

A Procurement Specialist from the Malawian office of the President and Cabinet Mr Joe Kamvantope, said in a statement, which Daily Monitor has seen that Amproc won the deal through an international competitive bidding process.

Mr Kamvantope said the contract for consultants' services by the Malawi Office of the Director of Public Procurement (ODPP), an equivalent of Uganda's Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), attracted four companies, namely AH Consulting from Uganda, SGS from Netherlands, Charles Kendal and Partners from United Kingdom (UK).

"These firms submitted both technical and financials proposals. Our minimum technical score point was 70 per cent. Amproc scored 90.2 percent, SGS 73.4 per cent Charles Kendal 70.2 per cent and AH consulting 56.2 per cent," Mr Kamvandope said.

"In view of the above, we would like to inform that the firm that has not achieved the minimum technical score points that their financial proposal were returned unopened after the signing of the contract."

Amproc's Chief Executive Officer Robert Mwesigwa said on August 27 that the contract between Amproc and ODPP through Financial Management, Transparency and Accountability Project (FIMTAP), was signed on July 17 in Malawi.

"Yes, we got the deal," Mr Mwesigwa said, adding "Our experience in the region and the experience we have gained from Uganda over 10 years is making other countries seek our services."

Procurement officials from Malawi who are currently in the country to study Uganda's procurement processes, said that the scope of the audit will cover all procurement carried out by the sixty selected public entities. Ms Gloria Macheso, ODPP's Regulatory Officer, said the audit was out-sourced with financial support from the World Bank.

Ms Macheso said the purpose of the procurement audit is to seek independent auditor's opinion on the procurement, contracting and implementation processes. A statement from ODPP said the review will cover major procurement within two financial years under review, 2005/06 and 2006/07.

"The audit team will conduct a thorough review of the procurements undertaken by the entities," a statement from ODPP said. It said some of the contracts procuring entities will be visited to make physical inspections of quality and quantity of goods, works, services procured.

"Where appropriate, and to the extent practical, prices will also be compared with similar contracts in the country and region and verified against local and international market prices for the items in question," the statement said.

According to the mandate of ODPP, an independent ex-post procurement audit is required for procurement activities undertaken in the various public procurement entities.

Under Malawi's procurement law, public procurement entities are expected to ensure that procurement and contracting activities are carried out in accordance with the procedures specified in the public procurement act. Malawi like Uganda is also facing challenges in the procurement industry.