Procurement Regulatory Board of Zimbabwe Capacity Building Director Cliff Gondo in an interview with Bhizimusi.com has said that there is a problem of contractors who want to cnange contracts in a manner that has not been agreed upon by government.
The director was answering to the question of how the regulatory board has been handling Government contracts at a time when prices are going up.
“We had a situation that suppliers were just coming and telling Government entities that prices have gone up,” Gondo said. “so address that the law simply says you must have provisions where you actually agree when things are still fine that this is how we are are going to go about changing the prices.”
“So the problem we have, people want to change contracts in a manner that has not been agreed upon.”
The Capacity Building Director went on to say that entities must investigate any price changes above 20 percent of the actual price to find out if the price increase is warranted or not.
“The law goes on to say any price above 20 per cent, the entity may cancel the contract because it results in a contract that is materially different from the pone that we entered into,” Gondo explained.
“So if they (Government entities) are also negotiating in good faith, they must ask the suppliers to say justify your price increases because you don’t want a situation where you cancel a contract and the next person has also increased by 20 person.”
Prices have been going up in Zimbabwe resulting into confusion on state procurement.
“Sometimes you find people can’t justify their price increases,” Gondo said. “They just want to creme the Government… because people want to say inyama yenzou haipere (Government money never comes to an end)”