A financial loss of more than Rs. 125 million had been caused by buying PCR testing kits from a bidder who quoted higher price, despite average market prices, the Auditor General’s 2020 Report revealed.
The report was handed over to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena this week by Auditor General W.P.C. Wickramaratne.
According to the report, 328 PCR kits were bought in three instances in April 2020 at a higher price, disregarding the average market price of Rs. 1,850 a kit.
The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation had spent Rs. 762.96 million on behalf of the Medical Supplies Division of the Ministry of Health.
The report said that the PCR kits offered by lowest bidders were rejected for not being compatible with the existing PCR machines.
Therefore, the technical evaluation committee had decided to grant the tender to the highest bidder on the ground of urgency, type of PCR machines used by Medical Research Institute and past experience, even without analyzing whether the PCR kits provided by the said bidder are compatible with available PCR machines.
Then, he AG said that the special procurement committee of Health Ministry had awarded the contract to the highest bidderon the recommendation of the technical evaluation committee.
