Editor,

RE: "Emphasise skills transfer in major projects” (The New Times, November 15).

Excellent point Mr. Rwamugema. The surest way to do this is to re-adjust Rwanda procurement procedures to allow local company participation and/or capacity building component into the bids.

Currently, Rwanda procurement law awards extra marks in evaluation for local company participation (up to 10 points). The only problem is some bids are so complex that even with the missing local companies’ marks, the company will still win the tender.

I believe an alternative way is for Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA) or institutions to include a mandatory capacity building plan as part of the bid process.

The capacity building plan can include number of local staff trained, proposed number of public lecturers (free) to a local university or professional body, or leave to the company to propose a capacity building plan.

This way the best bids can be evaluated with the best capacity building plan as a competitive edge. RPPA would be better to make it a mandatory component of bids to ensure all institutions comply with this requirement.

Kigali Girl