ISLAMABAD: The Transparency International-Pakistan has praised the prime minister for following the public procurement rules in the procurement of 100,000 laptops and expressed the hope that the procedure would also be followed in other government departments to curb corruption.

A Rs4.5 billion contract will be signed between the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Haier-China for the supply and commissioning of 100,000 laptops under the prime minister’s programme for the provision of laptops to talented students on Monday – 20 days after the tenders were opened on April 14.

Sohail Muzaffar, chairman of TI-Pakistan, said in a statement that the procurement of laptops had been made under the guidance of the organisation.

“The procurement proves that any contract can be awarded to the lowest responsive bidder, at the most economic cost, in 20 days if the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules are applied across the board.”

He said that TI-Pakistan supported the government policy of award of contracts on the fast track basis in water and power and oil and gas sectors.

But the process of finalising the projects is often delayed, in many cases for more than a year, because the two sectors are not ready to follow the PPRA rules.

He said that on the initiative of Maryam Nawaz, chairperson, PM Youth Programme, the TI-Pakistan had decided to assist the government in the PM’s youth schemes in application of PPRA rules across the board.

By applying the PPRA rules, he said, the government could get the best products, at the most economical costs, and the whole procurement process could be completed in 35 days.

Mr Muzaffar appealed to the prime minister to direct the authorities concerned to apply the procedure used in the procurement of laptops in all development projects to make procurement corruption-free and save costs and time.