Ministerial bodies and provincial governments are Public Contracting Entities (EPC) which, according to the SNCP, "persist in not reporting" the execution of public contracts.
The Statistical Bulletin of Angolan Public Procurement (BECPA) for the 2nd Semester 2022, prepared by the SNCP and which Lusa had access to this Friday, mentions that the EPCs also lack "rigor" in the communications for opening procedures, which "conditions the timely action and analysis" of the SNCP.
Non-compliance with the minimum deadlines for submitting proposals, choosing the type of inconsistent procedure as stipulated by law, failure to indicate the estimated value of the contract, failure to indicate the opening date of the PCP and lack of communication of awards are some of the constraints pointed out by the SNCP.
At least 510 PCPs were registered in the second half of 2022, with only 80 percent of all procedures reported with the respective estimated values of 2 billion kwanzas.
The entity, supervised by the Ministry of Finance, says it has registered 362 PCPs in progress, 147 completed and one procedure pending, culminating in 69 contracts worth 308.9 billion kwanzas.
The months of July and August recorded the highest number of PCPs, 176 PCP (35 percent) and 98 PCP (19 percent), respectively, with the month of July having the highest number of communications regarding the signing of contracts 83 PCP (49 percent), followed by August and September with 30 PCP (18 percent).
Ministerial departments have the highest number of PCPs and signed contracts, with 386 (76 per cent) and 140 (83 percent), respectively.
According to the BECPA, simplified contracting, with 215 PCPs, was the type of procedure most adopted in that period, followed by limited tendering by invitation with 146 PCPs.
Purchases of services (257 PCP) and purchases of movable property (183 PCP) were the most contracted objects in the last six months of 2022.
According to the SNCP bulletin, of the 147 completed PCPs, 131 indicated the estimated value and the contractual value, generating savings of 8.3 billion kwanzas.
"In view of the reduced conclusion of PCP, which was registered, the real value of the savings may be different from that calculated", refers in the document.
At the level of the National Electronic Public Procurement System (SNCPE), points out the BECPA, 37 PCPs were launched and savings of around 7.2 billion kwanzas were generated.
The half-yearly bulletin also mentions that it carried out an extraction of the values allocated by the EPC, at central and local level, in relation to expenditure under the Public Contracts Law, using the Integrated System of State Financial Management (SIGFE) as a source.
From the data extracted "it is possible to verify, once again, that some EPC proceeded to earmark (and settle) large financial sums, without having communicated a reasonable number of PCP to the SNCP".
"As can be seen, some ministerial departments do not have many procedures registered in the SNCP's Database of Public Procurement Procedures, mainly due to the lack of disclosure by housing sources, despite the fact that, cumulatively, they have allocated values in the order of 71 per percent of the total earmarked", he points out.
Regarding the PCPs launched by provincial governments between July and December 2022, the bulletin highlights the provincial governments of Luanda (23 PCP), Cuanza Sul (9 PCP), Huíla (5 PCP), which represent around 64, 9 percent of procedures communicated by provincial governments, representing a total commitment value of 115.71 billion kwanzas.
Angola's National Public Procurement Service also points out that there is, however, "a lot of disparity and non-compliance" in terms of communicating procedures.
The provinces of Cabinda, Huambo, Uíge and Zaire "did not communicate any procedure each" during this period, he points out.
The absence of a single system for collecting information regarding the training and execution phase of public contracts is still among the "constraints" pointed out by BECPA, as the SNCP currently works with a database in Microsoft Excel format.
To mitigate the constraints, the SNPC promises to carry out visits, in March and April 2023, to the provincial governments in order to collect and/or complement some statistical information, carry out benchmarking visits and other actions.
The SNCP's action for the continuous modernization and revitalization of public finances involves "numerous challenges", embodied, fundamentally, by two tools, namely the Contract Management System, "as a single repository of all public contracts", and the SNCPE, "privileged means for promoting hiring based on transparency and innovation".
