November 27: Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal (FCAN) has drawn the attention of the concerned authorities regarding the problems they have been facing due to some of the provisions contradicting the Public Procurement Act. A delegation led by Bishnu Bhai Shrestha, president of FCAN, on Sunday apprised  the secretary at the Public Procurement Monitoring Office Krishna Prasad Devkota about their problems and held discussions to seek solutions to the problems .

The delegation has requested Devkota to solve the contemporary issues and problems in construction activities which are against the amended Public Procurement Act, 2007.

The delegation informed the secretary that the government bodies have been calling for bids for projects with less than Rs 20 million investment by setting certain criteria, which is against the spirit of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and the fourth amendment (2017) to the Public Procurement Rule, 2008. They said that this act has deprived small-scale construction companies of work opportunity, rendering them jobless. The FCAN drew the attention of the concerned bodies against this anomaly and requested them to implement the Public Procurement Act and Rule in its true spirit. 

The delegation said that despite mentioning the source of construction supplies like stones, mud, aggregates and sand in the tender, the district development committees and district administration offices do not let the contractors extract the supplies from the sources. This has caused delay in construction works.    

Bishnu Budathoki, spokesperson FCAN, informed that Devkota in response has said that they will try their best to address the legitimate demands of the entrepreneurs.