The Federal Government College (FGC) Sokoto, on Monday, conducted an open bidding process for 2021 capital project contracts in line with the national procurement law.
A total of 19 companies submitted bids for the rehabilitation of the administrative block and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) center in the school.
The School Principal, Mr. Ibrahim Uba, who is also the chairman of the bids opening committee said that the capital projects were approved for the school by the Federal Government.
Uba said the public bid opening was in compliance with due process procedures to ensure transparency in the award of contracts.
The principal said the process would also avail the companies the opportunity to compare the status of their applications and that of others.
He assured that the school would comply with all government procurement standards before awarding the contract.
In his comment, the School’s Chief Procurement Officer, Mr. Garba AbdulAziz, said the school complied with all lawful processes and would not compromise standards in the selection of contractors.
Abdulaziz, who led the physical and online processes witnessed by representatives of the companies, said 10 firms bid for rehabilitation of administrative block, while nine bid for rehabilitation of ICT center.
A Legal Officer from the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Eno William, noted that the lowest quotation did not mean an automatic qualification of winning the contract, however, it could be considered as winning the first step of crossing the hurdles.
“This is because immediately after the bid opening, the bid documents will be subjected to series of scrutiny by a team of professionals for the purpose of evaluating the bids to ensure that other essential criteria are fully met,” William explained.
He said the technical bid would be followed by a financial bid, before the final selection of the contractors.
An observer, Dr. Auwal Ahmad-Musa, the Executive Director of Productive Youths Development Initiative, a leading NGO advocating for good governance and accountability in Sokoto State, commended the school management for conducting a transparent exercise.
The exercise was monitored by representatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), NGOs, and others
