The Public Procurement & Property Disposal Service (PPPDS) has awarded seven furniture manufacturers to supply furniture products worth 138.8 million Br. The companies were officially awarded on August 29, 2017.
The procurement was conducted on behalf of the 11 newly established Universities following the request of Ministry of Education (MoE).
The tender for the supply of the furniture was announced on February 1, 2017. Three weeks later, it was opened in the presence of 25 interested companies that had bought the bidding document, of which 22 had passed the preliminary stage of technical evaluation. Later on, ten companies were selected by the Service to compete in the financial stage of evaluation, where seven of the suppliers managed to win the right to supply the furniture.
Deluxe Furniture, OMEDAD Plc, Benvenuti Brothers (Ethiopia) Plc, Sahele Plc, Feleke Trading Plc, Robit International Business Group Plc and Emerald Home Furnishings are the companies that won the bid. The largest amount of the goods will be supplied by Robit, which will distribute 13 types of furniture items worth 83.6 million Br, to the public universities. Items including tables, chairs, TV room materials and reading tables will be used in libraries as well as classrooms.
Robit International was founded in 1996. The company is mainly engaged in import, manufacturing and distribution of furniture items, supplying to small and corporate level businesses.
The second highest amount of the items will be delivered by Deluxe Furniture, a division of Minaya Private Limited. The company, which has been providing similar products for the past 14 years, will distribute 29 types of items worth 11.9 million Br. Among the winners.
The lowest amount of bid went to Benvenuti Brothers Plc, which will provide three types of items including lockers, shelves, and chairs for the 11 universities with a total cost of 2.1 million Br.
“We have a plan to import two of the three items as soon as we conclude the agreement,” said Bekele Belay, a senior sales person at Benvenuti Brothers. However, the company plans to produce the remaining item in the country, according to Bekele.
Benvenuti, one of the oldest furniture suppliers in the capital, is also involved in importing general office items, stationeries and electrical goods. Bekele believes that the remoteness of the universities will be challenging for the distribution of furniture. “Delivery will be a daunting task for us,” said Bekele.
In the past fiscal year, PPPDS procured 9.6 billion Br worth of goods, which is 36pc lower than that of the 2015/16 fiscal year. Universities and federal budgetary institutions account for one-fifth of the procurement made by the service.
Apart from the furniture, the service has also procured reference books for universities with a cost of 94 million Br. The service selected four companies to supply the books.
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