ISLAMABAD: The government has granted partial exemption from applicability of Public Procurement Rules, 2004 to the procurement of spot cargoes of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and by Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) till December 31.
According to sources, the federal cabinet has taken this decision while considering a summary titled ‘Grant of Partial Exemption under Section 21 of the PPRA Ordinance, 2002 from Applicability of Rule 13 & 35 of Public Procurement Rules, 2004 for Reduction in Timelines Specific to the Procurement of Spot Cargoes of LNG by PSO and by PLL dated 10th September 2021, submitted by the Cabinet Division.
As per details, the cabinet division requested the federal cabinet to consider grant of partial exemption under Section 21 of the PPRA Ordinance, 2002 from the applicability of the Rules 13 & 35 of Public Procurement Rules, 2004 to PSO and PLL for procurement of LNG through spot procurement of three cargoes for PSO and thirteen cargoes for PLL till December 31 to the extent of relaxing the duration of response time to three days, and the reasonable period between the announcement of evaluation report and award of contract to the successful bidder, subject to the condition that fair opportunity shall be provided to potential bidders and to ensure the redressal of grievances if any.
The cabinet division also informed the cabinet that the PPRA board, in its 53rd meeting held on August 12 has directed the PPRA management to recommend exemption to PSO and PLL.
The PPRA board, in its decision, said that partial exemption may be granted. Similarly, the PPRA board also said in its decision that if the Petroleum Division needs procurement of additional cargoes during this period i.e. before December 31 it will bring the case to PPRA again.
Section 21 of the PPRA Ordinance, 2002 stipulates that “The Authority may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, recommend to the federal government that the procurement of an object or class of objects in the national interest be exempted from the operation of this Ordinance or any rule or regulation made thereunder or any other law regulating public procurement and the Federal Government on such recommendations shall exempt the aforesaid objects or class of objects from the operation of the laws and rules and regulations made thereunder”.
It is pertinent to mention that approval of the federal cabinet was solicited to grant exemption from PPRA Rules for the procurement of 16 LNG cargoes till December 31 by PSO and PLL. The cabinet has granted its necessary approval in this regard.
