25 Jul 2016

A bid-rigging national workshop is scheduled for Gaborone today.

A press release from the Competition Authority states that the workshop is held in conjunction with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) under the theme: Fighting Bid-Rigging in Public Procurement.

The release also states that the workshop will bring under one roof procurement specialists and decision makers from the public service, parastatals, and local government authorities including landboards from across the country.

The aim of the workshop is also to raise awareness, among procurement officials, about the costs and risks of bid-rigging and to provide them with training on how to design tenders to reduce the risk of bid-rigging; how to identify possible instances of bid-rigging at an early stage during the procurement process and what to do when bid-rigging is uncovered at this stage.     

Furthermore, it says the workshop will include introductory presentations on the concept of bid-rigging, when it is most likely to occur and how it is dealt with under the Competition Law of Botswana.
It will cover the main sections in the OECD Guidelines for Fighting Bid-Rigging in Public Procurement (2009), and illustrate them with examples from other OECD countries.

The releases says the workshop will be practical in its approach and it will convey competition concepts to an audience of non-competition experts through real-life examples drawn from regional and international experiences in this area.

The Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Vincent Seretse, is expected to officially open the workshop.

Officials from the OECD, the Competition Commission of South Africa and the Competition Authority of Botswana will make presentations at the workshop.

They  include Antonio Capobianco and Ania Thiemann from the OECD, Adi Egozi from OECD and Israel Antitrust Authority,  Mzi Rubushe from the  Competition Commission of South Africa and Duncan  Morotsi from the  Competition Authority of Botswana. Ends