18 Aug 2013

Poor stakeholder participation in standards development programmes is one of the challenges that Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) is faced with, senior standards engineer, Ms Kabo Mabula has said.

Ms Mabula told a seminar on the use of standards in procurement held in Palapye recently that the technical committee involved in the development of standards comprised representatives from the public and private sectors sometimes failed to attend their meetings and that made it difficult for BOBS to develop standards.

She said BOBS facilitated the development of national standards and did not dictate the content. She added that the quality of Botswana standards also reflected that of the input from the stakeholders such as companies, government departments and professional institutions.

Ms Mabula however said this underlined the importance of stakeholder participation in the development of Botswana standards.

Furthermore, she said the other challenge that they were faced with was failure by the public to comment on or respond to the draft Botswana standards; something she said will result in delayed development of standards. 

Again, she indicated that stakeholders sometimes found it difficult to understand or interpret the requirements in the standard. Ms Mabula said it was also difficult for stakeholders to access BOBS services because the offices were only found in Gaborone or Francistown.

As a result, she said that they were looking into opening an office in Maun in the near future and were negotiating with partners such as LEA and CEDA to use their outlets for providing information about BOBS. She said her organisation continued to consult with stakeholders to make them aware of the importance of their participation.

 She added that standard development personnel were always available to assist those who might find it difficult to interpret the requirements in the standard. She said standards were important because they described product or service attributes which qualified them as quality product or quality service.

Thus, Ms Mabula encouraged companies to get their products or services certified. She also urged consumers to buy quality certified products. 

The seminar aimed to sensitise the business community and local authority on how standards can be applied in procurement processes in order to realise optimal quality benefits for the buyer.Ends