WE are small traders engaged in the business of providing medical equipment and medical supplies. The Sindh Government Services Hospital published a tender for the purchase of medical equipment. We participated in the bidding process. Our bid was declared technically acceptable as we were the lowest bidder.

We were issued an acceptance letter and were asked to deposit a performance security. We complied with all the requirements of the acceptance letter and received a confirmed purchase order. We then immediately supplied the ordered equipment. We then submitted our bill for payment before the deadline.

The hospital administration forwarded the bills for payment to the AG Sindh office. The AG office refused to pay on the pretext that the chief minister had frozen all funds. It is very strange that the Sindh CM has frozen the funds for the purchase of medical equipment in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic after we had followed all the prescribed procedures.

Even more astonishing is the fact that a confirmed purchase order has been cancelled and we are being asked to take back the supplied items. In our 60 years of doing business we have never heard of such a case. We do not know where to take our grievance in these trying times.

Aggrieved suppliers
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2020