The workflow of adopting PIMS should take the following sequential order
1. Registration of users.
Registration of different users should follow different methods. Adequate review and verification should be done prior to the registration since the users are made authorized with designated powers according to the type of user. To participate in the
public procurement, they must be registered in the system. Registration of users takes the following hierarchical order:
- Registration of system administrator-this is a single entity type of user. The Public Procurement Monitoring Officer (PPMO) is a single and one time registration process.
- Registration of procuring authorities- all the procuring entities should enter into the system by certifying their procurement needs/qualifications by the government department with relevant authorization.
2. Registration of contractors/suppliers/consultants– registration of bidding parties in PIMS should be managed in such a way that they are bound to enter into the PIMS by written request with supporting documents lightly after they are registered into the firm/company registration authority. At the time of registration, the current capabilities i.e. man power, equipment, financial resources and other technical capabilities should be registered along.
3. Registration of scheduled banks- registration of banks take place on demand to the system by bidding parties (for presenting bid charge amount) bid security guarantee or performance guarantee during bidding process or by procuring authority doing payments
2. Electronic bidding
Invitation of bids, quotations, proposals etc. should be called off officially through electronic bidding process. For doing so, every procuring authority should keep online based centralized service packages/software. Preparation of a bid document can be simplified by the already prepared template by administrator where necessary entries can be made pertaining to the unique details of that contract, posting of bid notice to the system automatically generates email notification to every member registered to the system.
On receiving the notification, bidders can prepare their bid by providing the necessary entries of item rates and other required customization to the provided bid template. Also the bidding parties have to manage the appropriate bank to issue bid security which too gets submitted online through the PIMS system with the bid
3. Bid opening and evaluation
Opening of bids will not be a big deal after going online system of PIMS as there is no chance of manipulation and alterations as in the case of hardcopy submission. It follows a regular office day process. The bidding period can also be reduced as an online system reduces the effort put on bid preparation. After opening of the bids on the specified date and time, it can be automated on the PIMS to send the abstract details of submitted bids to all the bidders as a bid opening checklist. After opening of the bids, evaluation of the bids takes place and in this section in the system, it is accessible from the terminal of the procuring authority. This this section, the buyer generates checklist of the requirement details of the contract as indicated in the bid documents already prepared and also the detailed capability of the bidders through the PIMS central data. On comparison on both, the system automatically indicates the eligible and ineligible bidders. The lowest eligible bidder is determined and awarded the contract.
4. Contract award and monitoring
After evaluation of the bid, contract is awarded to the successful bidder through the system. Going through the contract award terminal by the buyer, contracted agreement document template which is already printed by the system administrator is modified and customised in the required fields only(name, time of execution, price etc.) which gets entered in the data warehouse. It can be utilized by the system for real time tracking of the contract. By the help of sets of data in the system or the contract documents, PIMS regulates and notifies the necessary information like target time frame and progress and suggests actions to the concerned parties.
Mandatory actions cannot be modified or altered by any of the registered users e.g. if the milestone provision in the contract is not achieved, the system sends a message called charging liquidated damage. (all provisions must be cleared up as in the contract document and it has to be done by the buyer otherwise payment order by the system does not proceed)
5. Payment and completion of contract
During or on completion of the contract, execution series of payment shall be released. Payment can be released to the contracting parties upon the billing of executing works through the billing section of the PIMS only accessible by the buyer. Payment can be issued through the scheduled banks upon the online request order through the system. On completion of works and services, completion report is required with contract execution details and final payment is released
6. Updating the contract execution report
Since every action is preceded through the online based software package of PIMS connected to the central server. It is automatically saved to the server. On termination of contract a summary of contract execution progress record billing information and payment history is recorded by the system. Compilation of such executive summary of all contracts handles by a particular contracting party, yearly work experience and financial income can be easily generated by a system and such reports are usable for future bidding action.
7. Updating increased capability of bidders
The system should support the update of increased capability of bidding partied. Increment in resources, man power, equipment and other capital assets should be updated with written request by the contracting parties on the verification of the requested update with supporting documents such as purchasing receipt.
