On 24 August 2022 the Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) announced that the wining tender bid for the replacement of the artificial turfs at the Changlimithang National Stadium and the Changjiji worth USD 560,000 in total or Nu 45.87 million (mn) was awarded to an international sports supplier company named Limonta Sports.
Four international companies had put in their bids and Limonta Sports put in the lowest bid.
Conflict of Interest?
However, in what has become a matter of controversy and also became an Anti Corruption Commission complaint, a chain of emails appeared to show that the consultant that BFF hired to prepare and also evaluate the tender documents, Kinzang Wangdi CEO of Woezer Events, claimed to represent Limonta Sports in Bhutan.
On 6 September 2022 the complainant pretending to be a sports company called ‘Karsel Football Inc’ from Gelephu wrote an email to Limonta saying the complainant is planning to build two football sized fields. The email asked if the company directly sells to individuals or if they have someone in Bhutan who is the bonafide authorized dealer of Limonta in Bhutan.
On 9 September 2022 Kinzang Wangdi wrote back to Karsel Sports with a CC copy to a Karim Ajam of Limonta. Kinzang said, ‘Thank you for contacting Limonta SPA and we would like to request for your mobile contact number for further discussion. We tried to reach you on the landline you shared but failed.’
Karsel Football wrote back on 15 September 2022 asking if he is really the Limonta supplier in Bhutan and if he is genuine.
On the same day a Karim Ajam who is the sales manager of Limonta Sport wrote back to Karsel Sport confirming that Kinzang Wangdi is their ‘valuable partner’ in Bhutan.
Various sources the paper talked to said that when it comes to Limonta Sport products in Bhutan the person who deals is Kinzang Wangdi.
A 9 February 2022 facebook post by Woezer Events said they deal with Limonta Sport and Greenfields.
The complaint letter to ACC alleged that by the nature of his BFF job, Mr. Kinzang Wangdi is privy to the BFF tender budget allocation.
The letter says the artificial turf specifications in all the above mentioned BFF tenders, without exception, favors Limonta.
The complainant’s additional letter also submitted to ACC says Kinzang Wangdi is the BFF consultant. He is also a private businessman who sells Limonta football turf in Bhutan. He is also the architect of the BFF tender. He is also a participant in the BFF tender. He is also the BFF bid evaluator.
The complainant in the second letter says ‘It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that because of the nature of his BFF consultant job, Mr. Kinzang Wangdi is privy to the BFF tender budget allocation.’
The complainant writes that the conflict of interest does not stop there.
The second letter alleges that for the said BFF tender, Mr. Kinzang Wangdi not only knew the budget allocation for each proposed football project but, as the consultant and architect of the tender, he also framed the Bills of Quantities.
“Not surprisingly, the BoQ singularly favored Mr. Kinzang Wangdi’s Limonta turf. You need only go through the BoQ and you’ll see that nearly every specification asked in the tender favors Limonta turf specifications,” says the letter.
It says the tender mandates that only 45 mm grass as being eligible for the bid.
“Why? Why not 50 mm or 55 mm or 60 mm which are far better alternatives than 45 mm for a national football pitch like the Changlimithang? Could it be because of the fact that Mr. Kinzang Wangdi, who is the sole authorized dealer of Limonta turfs in Bhutan, sells only one type of turfs and that is Limonta Infinity 45 mm?” asks the complainant.
The second letter also alleges that on the bid opening day the BFF Consultant as the dealer and representative of Limonta turfs in Bhutan was allowed to participate by the BFF tender committee.
BFF and Kinzang reply
The General Secretary of BFF Ugyen Wangchhuk accepted that Kinzang Wangdi is the consultant hired by BFF to do all the tender documents, however, he denied that Kinzang Wangdi was the representative of Limonta. He said while Kinzang buys equipment from Limonta it does not mean he represents Limonta.
Kinzang Wangdi admitted that he is the consultant hired by BFF to draft the tender documents and he also evaluates them with the other tender committee members’ main role being there at the opening of the tender to sign on the bids placed.
He denied he is the official dealer of Limonta in Bhutan but he said he does buy from Limonta and sell in Bhutan and he helps them. Kinzang said that to be an official dealer one needs to put up a huge deposit with the company. He said that Limonta had bid separately as an international company and his sports company called ‘Bhutan Sports Trading,’ had no role in the bid.
He said some of the international bids were made through email and that had to be printed out and submitted.
He said the tender rules followed are that of the Ministry of Finance and while no individual brands are specified the tender specified FIFA approved European standard brands to ensure quality products.
A second tender and volleyball
Apart from the above the BFF again using Kinzang Wangdi had tendered around Nu 50 mn in works to develop artificial turfs in Punakha, Dagana and mini pitches at Changlimithang and Changjiji. The bid was meant for local Bhutanese companies but two international companies were also allowed to bid.
Here it was found that though Kinzang had prepared the tender documents he had attempted to participate in the same tender but was stopped at the gate on the instructions of the BFF.
All local companies were disqualified under the stringent provisions made by Kinzang and the one eligible bidder refused to reduce the price during negotiations and so the bid was given to an international bidder.
The letter of the complainant also tells the ACC that Kinzang Wangdi is also the head of the Bhutan Volleyball Federation under BOC and as such volley infrastructure jobs in Thimphu are won by his company.
When the paper asked him about this Kinzang said that he is the President and he raises the funds for the federation but that the funds go to the Bhutan Olympic Committee that prepares and announces the tenders.
He, however, admitted that the technical specifications for a volleyball court near Changlimithang was prepared by him and sent to the BOC and then his company took part in the tender and won that bid.
The complainant also made two other complaints on alleged forgery of bid documents in both the bids with one being the difference in the bid and award price and the other being alleged forgery to make it appear that a winning foreign company was there.
ACC observations
The ACC did a six-month long investigation and found that there are no grounds for legal prosecution.
However, the ACC did make some observations.
It said that in the second bid meant for locals the BFF had conveniently allowed two international bidders Acosa Sports and Syncotts International to submit bids for the local work without re-tendering and this excluded other potential international bidders from participating in the work.
The ACC said while it was informed that BFF was following the local tender regulations of the government then it should have re-tendered instead of giving the work to international bidders.
The ACC also specifically noted that BFF had been availing the services of consultant Kinzang Wangdi who does most of the work for BFF including preparations of tender documents, cost estimation etc to supervision and monitoring till final execution.
However, it was found that there was no concrete process followed as to how the consultant was selected in the first place. The ACC was only told that he was appointed as he had prior experience and association with the BOC.
On the issue of alleged conflict of interest ACC could not prosecute as while Kinzang deals with Limonta grass purchase and sales there is no concrete evidence to prove conflict of interest as he does not have did not have a ‘Partnership Certificate,’ and professional linkages with Limonta.
The ACC placed on record its concern that current investigation findings did highlight potential vulnerabilities and risk of corruption opportunities when a consultant who is associated with the international bidder is also holding influential roles in both the technical as well as procurement related aspects of sports projects in Bhutan.
ACC said it is confident that BFF will not overlook this concern over such unsettling arrangements and will take necessary preemptive steps within its authority to strengthen good governance and safeguard our sports institutions from falling into international disgrace as experienced by some neighboring countries.
The ACC did not investigate the allegations over the volleyball tender.
The complainant expressed dissatisfaction with the ACC’s conclusions especially on there not being enough evidence on the conflict of interest aspect.