The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has stopped the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) from awarding a contract to a foreign company for an automation project. The decision has come in the wake of a petition filed by local vendors, who cited discrimination by USC in drafting the Request for Proposals (RFPs) for bidders.
A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production, headed by Senator Hidayatullah, was informed that the USC Managing Director Waseem Mukhtar told the committee that the CCP bench was formed to deal with the matter and it is expected to finalise a decision by the first or second week of March. Its next hearing is scheduled for Friday (today).
“We will accept CCP’s verdict and proceed accordingly as the regulator’s judgment will be impartial,” he remarked.
Minister of Industries and Production Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi, present in the meeting, recalled that he had directed the USC management to automate its stores network in order to tackle corruption and theft. He added that two letters were directed to the USC management raising objections over the RFPs designed.
Trying to dismiss a controversy over sugar purchase at higher rates, the USC managing director told the committee that it bought the sweetener for Rs60 per kg and was selling at the same price.This marked a deviation from his original statement in a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), where he stated that USC purchased sugar for Rs73 per kg from mills and sold it for Rs65 per kg at its outlets. The Senate committee also showed concerns over the sale of substandard products – fungus infested pulses being sold at USC outlets, and many products weighing less than required.
The Senate committee also showed concerns over the sale of substandard products – fungus infested pulses being sold at USC outlets, and many products weighing less than required.
The USC managing director admitted lack of quality control mechanism in place. However, after the Supreme Court took notice of the quality of ghee and cooking oil, the management decided to outsource the quality assurance responsibility to a private company. It was agreed that the company should hire services of an accredited lab so that the quality of products placed at USC outlets could be monitored.
A pre-bid meeting was held on February 8 whereas bids will be opened on February 27.
The managing director stressed on training employees to improve the company’s quality assurance mechanism in addition to hiring a professional private enterprise for the purpose.
“We are phasing out quality assurance to a private professional company, which will also enjoy confidence of vendors in accurate testing of their products,” he said.He emphasised that strict quality checks and monitoring is likely to phase out companies that were selling below-standard products out of the supplier’s list.
