CSO Observer Member 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?” 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 planning 2.Preparation of bid documents 3.Public announcement of invitations for tendering 4.Clarification of Bidding document and Pre-bid meeting 5.Submission of tenders 6.Opening of tenders 7.Review of tenders 8.Evaluation of tenders 9.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 budget Procuring EntityGoods and Services Threshold Amounts Works Threshold Amounts State administrative body > MNT 200 million> MNT 500 million Agency and institutions MNT million MNT 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 EntityGoods 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!