KARACHI - Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA) has won South Asian Procurement Innovation Award-2018 in a recently held Regional Procurement Innovation Competition at Bhuttan. This was informed by World Bank senior procurement specialist Ms.Uzma Sadaf at the orientation session on SPPRA Act 2009, and Rules 2010 arranged by SPPRA in collaboration with Economic Reforms Unit of Sindh Finance Department under the Chief Secretary Sindh for Secretaries or Principal Accounting Officers and head of the departments or public sector organizations at a hotel, said a statement on Thursday. The award competition was organised among eight countries of South Asia under the aegis of South Asian Public Procurement Network, iNet and World Bank at Bhuttan. The orientation session was inaugurated by Principle Secretary to Chief Minister Sindh Sajjid Jamal Abro. Managing Director SPPRA Muhammad Aslam Gouri, Deputy Director Muhammad Ayoub Ali Khan and Deputy Director Imran Razzak conducted various sessions on SPPRA Act. It was informed that Procurement involving US $ 10 million and above requires international competitive bidding and in that case the bidding would be invited through advertisement in at least one international newspaper and two national newspapers English. They said that for petty purchases, no quotation or bidding process is required for procurement below Rs 100,000. If cost is above Rs 100,000 and below Rs 300,000 at least three quotations are required to ensure competitive prices. Procurement over Rs 300,000 and up-to Rs 2 million shall be advertised on SPPRA website and procurement over Rs 2 million will be advertised on SPPRA website and at least three leading dailies, they said. It was further informed that complaint reddersal mechanism has been evolved and procuring authority shall constitute CRC to dispose of complaints regarding bidding process within seven days of receiving any complaint. If aggrieved bidder is not satisfied with CRC decision, he may lodge an appeal to Review Committee head by SPRRA MD at provincial level. It was informed that courts have also rejected appeals of aggrieved bidders and advised them to approach relevant forums first. Addressing on the occasion, Chief Secretary Sindh Mumtaz Ali Shah said that Sindh is ahead of other provinces. After re-organization of Public Private Partnership Unit of Sindh at international level, winning South Asia Procurement Innovation Award by the SPPRA was great achievement for the province, he added. He appreciated the efforts of SPPRA administration and emphasized upon bringing more innovation so that public procurement process could be made more transparent. He asked principal accounting officers and head of the public sector organizations to strictly follow the SPPRA Act for managing the procurement process. The chief secretary Sindh handed over South Asian Procurement Innovation Award to the Managing Director of SPPRA and distributed shields among the Board members of SPPRA. The participants of the session were also awarded certificates.