Bahrain - What is GIS

Bahrain Role of contractual arrangements in improving health system performance
The day after the closing date, the bids are opened by the Tender Board in the presence
of bidders.
All the bids are listed on a display board showing the price quoted by each bidder.
Each page of these bids is stamped and punched with the Government logo so that no
pages can be added later.
All the bids are handed over to the contracting Ministry, i.e. the Ministry of Health in
this case, for evaluation.
The bids are carefully studied by the Directorate of Medical Equipment for
completeness and to determine whether the bids meet the Ministry of Health
specifications.
The findings are then presented to the Tender Evaluation Committee, which comprises
members of the Directorate of Finance, Directorate of Materials Management and
Directorate of Medical Equipment.
The committee makes final recommendation for award of the contract to a bidder.
Various factors considered by this committee include prices quoted, ability of the
contractor to meet requirements, contractor’s past history of reliability, Ministry’s
past experience with the contractor etc.
The recommendation of the Tender Evaluation Committee is then sent to the Minister of
Health for approval. Once it is approved by the Minister, the award of contract is
sent to the Tender Board for their final approval. After receiving the approval
from the Tender Board, the contract is awarded to the selected contractor.
The contract is then signed between the Ministry and the contractor.
The format of the contract is standard, as approved by the Ministry and Finance and
National Economy.
In both case studies, the selection was based on bid price as well as on the
quality of technical proposal. No scoring criteria were used for bidders’ proposals.
Involvement of an expert third party (Tender Board) ensures transparency and fairness
of the selection process. The competitive bidding process used was successful in
keeping the cost of the contracts low (controlling bidding price).
Contract management and implementation issues
Linking contracts to tangible results
Although detailed specifications and requirements were built into the equipment
maintenance contract, no tangible achievement outcomes were specified in either case
study. There was no performance bonus included in the contracts which could
motivate contractors to improve their outputs.
Duration of contract
Both contracts were of short duration (2 years), which will help avoid monopoly
with regard to future contracts. However, in the contractual arrangements for
incineration of medical waste, a 10-year contract was signed because of the huge
investment made by the contractor for equipment [12].
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