13th Amendment of Procurement Rules: Facilitation of extension of project due to need

'In the project where the work cannot be completed within the agreed period, no additional financial claims can be made due to the fact that the work could not be completed according to the schedule submitted by the construction business, the period required for work, the revised schedule and the extension of the deadline,' it is stated in the issued regulations. "After determining the actual additional period required to work, the official who approves the bid will extend the deadline by ensuring that the period of performance guarantee, insurance and security related guarantee is maintained." It is mentioned in the revised regulations that the taluk body will take departmental action against officials or employees who do not extend the deadline within 30 days of receiving the

application. If the builder does not submit an application for extension of the contract period within the time specified in the regulation and the construction work is not completed even within the extended period according to the regulation, the purchase contract will be terminated.

'If the purchase contract is terminated, the public body shall send a written notice to the public procurement monitoring office to blacklist the relevant construction business according to Section 63 of the Procurement Act,' the regulation states, 'the relevant ministry shall monitor whether or not the construction work has been completed within the extended period of time.' It is mentioned in the regulations that will be enforced from the date of the decision regarding extension.

It is said that the period that has passed till the said date is automatically added. In the case of projects with milestones, it is mentioned in the revised regulations that the milestones can also be modified as per the need along with the extension of the project period. The builders have been demanding the extension of the deadline for about 2,000 projects. Likewise, businessmen have also put forward a demand that milestones should not be set in projects. The regulations have been amended accordingly.

Bishnu Prasad Sharma, Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Public Procurement Monitoring Office said that this rule came into effect from the date of its publication in the gazette. "The deadline of the projects will be extended based on the regulations," he said, "The regulations have been issued by the office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers." Now all the offices will follow it.

This is not the first time that the procurement rules have been amended. Due to pressure from businessmen, the government has revised the procurement regulations eight times in 5 years. Since 076, the government has been revising the procurement regulations under the pressure of businessmen.

KP Sharma Oli's tenure five times, Sher Bahadur Deuba's tenure two and Pushpa Kamal Dahal's tenure has been amended once.

Only when Oli was the prime minister in 2076, the regulations were amended four times. The sixth amendment 076 was made on 30 Baisakh, the seventh amendment 076 on 23 May, the eighth amendment 076 on 16 July and the ninth amendment 076 on 14 January. Even when the 10th amendment was made for the fifth time on May 15, 2077, Oli was the Prime Minister. Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba was the prime minister and the regulations were amended twice.

When Deuba took the leadership of the government, the 11th amendment was made on 03 Chait 078 and the 12th amendment on 079 Asar 20. The government led by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has now decided to amend for the 13th time. Roshan Dahal, Secretary General of the Federation of Nepal Construction Professionals, said that the revised procurement regulations will solve the issue of problems in the projects.

'Currently, the deadline will be extended according to how much time it takes to complete the project,' he said, 'Due to the lack of budget and the land-land problem, the issue of extension is raised a lot. An application has to be made.'' "According to the schedule submitted by the builders, it has been decided to give the required deadline," he said, "for now, the problem of extension of the deadline has been solved by the revised regulations." Now the way is open to receive payment by extending the deadline for projects that have been completed.