The federal cabinet has amended the procurement rules to allow the government to award contracts to the state-owned enterprises without floating public tenders, which may compromise transparency in public sector deals.

The federal government notified the amended Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules on June 29 after approval from the cabinet, according to the notification.

According to the amended rule 42 (f), “A procuring agency may engage in direct contracting with state-owned entities. Such as professional, autonomous or semi-autonomous organizations or bodies of the federal or provincial governments. For the procurement of such works and services, including consultancy services, which are time-sensitive and in the public interest”.

Only time-sensitive cases allowed exemption. Managing Director of the PPRA Rizwan Malik said. Adding that these cases will also subject to four major conditions to ensure efficiency and transparency.

He said the government bodies that would get contracts without competition will not able to subcontract the work.

Sources said the major beneficiaries of this key amendment would be entities. Such as the National Logistic Cell, Frontier Works Organization and NESPAK.

Government Contracts | Tenders | Government Bodies | State Owned Entities | Exemption Allowed | Bids |