AN investigation by the Public Accounts Committee (Pac) into the controversial awarding of a laptops and desktop computers tender to companies that overcharged Parliament was yesterday postponed due to lack of quorum by Members of Parliament.
Yesterday’s meeting was supposed to grill members of the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe for alleged breach of procurement processes by the committee.
“We were supposed to hear from the Ministry of Finance as well as suppliers of those tenders, unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances we were hoping that members of the committee would be around, but we have decided that we may have to postpone this hearing to next Monday so that the members will all be here,” Pac acting chairperson Edwin Mushoriwa said.
Pac is investigating a case where Parliament authorised a tender for the supply of 173 laptops valued at US$9 200 each, but were deemed over-priced by the Finance ministry.
Leaked official documents show that Blinart Investments P/L won the tender to supply Parliament with 173 laptops for US$1 602 755, 77, translating to US$9 200 per gadget. Another company, Mid-End Computers and Hardware, won a tender to supply 79 desktop computers to Parliament, pricing its gadgets at above US$3 000 for a single machine.
The controversial tender was cancelled by Parliament after a public outcry over the flawed tender process.
