Contracts, Data and Investigations – COVID-19: Edition 2020-08-28
This week: South Africa publishes list of suppliers, investigations from Guatemala and Nigeria, MPs suing the UK government, and a new citizen procurement portal in Bangladesh.
This newsletter gathers stories covering the use and abuse of government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Let us know about your stories and content. We, Sophie and Georg, would love to hear about them.
Public procurement information is critical to making the right decisions. In the UK, MPs are suing the government for details on COVID-19 PPE contracts worth over £5 billion.
South Africa has released a full list of companies that won coronavirus-related government contracts, writes Pauline Bax for Bloomberg. The records were released by the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer and detail COVID-19 procurement information from all provinces, national departments and more than 70 public entities. The information is available via the website of the Treasury. Although a searchable spreadsheet would have been better than many separate PDF lists. The disclosure comes on the heels of widespread reports of tenders being farmed out to the families and friends of the well connected, writes Guy Oliver for The New Humanitarian.
In ICIR’s latest investigation into COVID-19 contracts in Nigeria using the country’s open contracting portal NOCOPO, Amos Abba reveals infrared thermometers were purchased at drastically inflated prices.
In Kenya, health workers have threatened a nationwide strike over concerns for their safety amid shortages of protective equipment, as the anti-corruption agency probes a $7.7 million procurement deal for COVID-19 medical supplies that saw three top officials suspended last week.
Bangladesh has launched a citizen portal on public procurement information, writes the Dhaka Tribune. Run by the Central Procurement Technical Unit, the portal is available at https://citizen.cptu.gov.bd.
In Guatemala, Ojo Con Mi Pisto’s Isais Morales shares the latest figures on spending by municipalities in response to the coronavirus. You can explore the 377 municipal contracts worth $14 million here.
Not Down Under enough: In a classic case of “off the shelf” public transport purchases going wrong, a state government in Australia has been criticized for buying ferries from Indonesia that can’t travel safely under bridges while passengers are on the top deck.
At a press conference, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took a strong stance against corruption in procurement: “Any type of corruption is unacceptable. However, corruption related to PPE, for me it is actually a murder. Because, if health workers work without PPE, we are risking their lives and that also risks the lives of the people they serve. So it is criminal and it is a murder.”
For our recommendations, resources and tools, check our COVID-19 resource page.
This newsletter has been put together by the Open Contracting Partnership. Comments? Suggestions? Got a story to share? Write to Sophie or Georg at media@open-contracting.org. Thanks for reading.
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