The Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), the largest employers' organization in the country, is contesting the Public Works Contracts Regulation, which was approved last December by the government, claiming that it favours foreign bidders.

According to the president of the Federation of Contractors in the CTA, Bento Machaila, who was speaking at a press conference yesterday, the new law has a loophole regarding the prior review of contracts by the Administrative Court (TA), when it comes to bidders from abroad.

For the source, the regulation states that the contractor may, whenever it deems it necessary, confirm the veracity of the content of the legal, economic, financial, technical and tax compliance documents in the country of origin and the absence of bankruptcy or insolvency petitions.

"The wording gives the contracting authority the power and not the duty to confirm the context of the documents submitted by foreign companies or competitors," said Bento Machaila, quoted by AIMHe went on to explain that "it is not clear in the regulation what procedures the contractor must follow if it wants to confirm veracity, which contributes to the state hiring unqualified companies".

In view of the situation, the contractors propose that the authorities clearly and fully indicate the documents and verify their contents.

Machaila said that law number 13/2024 of January 19, as well as law 14/2014 of August 14, both on the Organization and Functioning, Process of the Public Accounts Section at the Administrative Court, lack other elements for their effectiveness.

As such, the contractors are proposing that "subparagraph C-1" be added to Article 72(1) of the aforementioned law, since this law rules out prior supervision of contracts signed under projects and programs financed with funds from cooperation agencies or multilateral financial bodies," the source said.

(Photo DR)