Islamabad: A Prime Minister-appointed inquiry has found senior Border Health Services (BHS) officials prima facie responsible for serious irregularities in a five-year vaccine contract, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said on Tuesday, adding that he and the health ministry had been kept in the dark about the procurement.
The five-member committee declared the procurement of meningococcal meningitis and influenza vaccines a case of mis-procurement under Rule 50 of the Public Procurement Rules, 2004, and recommended proceedings against the officials concerned. Separately, three BHS officials, including serving and former directors, are in Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) custody over allegations of corruption and financial irregularities.
In its October 19 report, the committee found that the contract had been awarded to Karachi-based M/s Pharma Connect despite the company’s failure to meet a mandatory Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) licensing requirement. The procurement committee nevertheless awarded it full marks for technical eligibility, the report says.
The committee also found that former BHS director Dr Pardeep Kumar formed the procurement committee and made himself its chairman. It says he supervised the bid evaluation, approved the committee’s recommendation and signed the contract documents before obtaining the health ministry’s concurrence.
The report says the bidding documents lacked specified quantities, payment terms and an objective basis for evaluation. It also notes that the procurement committee accepted a single bid without establishing that its price was reasonable. The contract’s activity rate was 67.7 per cent above DRAP’s reference price, potentially adding about Rs548 million a year to the cost of vaccinating around 600,000 workers travelling to Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
At a press conference in Islamabad, Kamal said BHS officials had bypassed the ministry and kept both him and the ministry unaware of the process. He said the ministry had set up a procurement committee on May 9 and a grievance committee chaired by the director general of health, but BHS officials later formed their own committees.
Kamal said Rs183.055 million was held in a NADRA account, the supplier had not been paid and the government had suffered no financial loss so far. He said the inquiry report made no mention of social media claims that Rs10 billion had been embezzled. The ministry had implemented the committee’s recommendations and would form a new procurement committee, he added.
The minister said the FIA arrests followed directions from the Prime Minister’s Office and that the health ministry had not intervened. The FIA investigations concern allegations separate from the vaccine procurement irregularities examined by the inquiry. Those allegations have not been established as proven misconduct.
Kamal also alleged that a paid social media campaign sought to implicate him in the procurement case and deter him from demanding new provinces and administrative units.
The Prime Minister’s Office constituted the inquiry committee on October 16 after seven pharmaceutical companies challenged the procurement process in the Islamabad High Court, alleging violations of procurement rules.
The committee comprised Cabinet Division Secretary Kamran Ali Afzaal, Additional Attorney General Aamir Rahman, DRAP Chief Executive Officer Dr Obaidullah, Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Managing Director Hana Ahmed Qureshi and Intelligence Bureau Director General Siraj Uddin Amjad.
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