Audit: HR ministry overpaid for equipment
Written by Chan Kok Leong, Sharon Tan & Chua Sue-Ann, The Edge
The human resources ministry overpaid by an average of 308.6% for equipment purchased for its technical training institutes last year.
According to the National Audit Report: Ministries & Government-owned-companies (NAR), the ministry has spent RM441.33 million of its budgeted RM700 million for the procurement of teaching equipment for its institutes.
The human resource ministry has 27 training institutes, consisting of 22 Institut Latihan Perindustrian (ILP), four Pusat Latihan Teknologi Tinggi (ADTEC) and one Japan-Malaysia Techinical Institute (JMIT).
The training centres conduct certificate and diploma courses for construction, car repair, information technology, welding and other high-skill training.
Site audit was performed at seven ILPs — Kepala Batas, Kuala Langat, Miri, Kota Samarahan, Sandakan, Muar and Kota Baru, the ADTEC in Shah Alam and the JMIT.
The audit revealed that there were serious flaws in the procurement process at all training institutes.
“The market price for certain items was significantly cheaper than the price paid out by the ministry,” said NAR.
“Poor planning also lead to some RM3.66 million worth of equipment remaining unused or underutilised,” it added.
The audit found that the Price Negotiation Committee for Kepala Batas, Sandakan and Miri consisted of the same officers.
“Although, during the negotiation process the prices of equipment were lowered, the Audit feels that the overall prices paid for the Kepala Batas ILP and Sandakan ILP to be far higher that the market price,” said the report.
The audit found that there was huge gaps between the pricing for the same equipment by three different vendors — Naim Cendera Sdn Bhd (NC), Maflink Engineering Sdn Bhd (ME) and Komponen Utama Sdn Bhd (KU).
For pole platforms, NC charged Miri ILP RM30,510 each while Kepala Batas ILP paid ME RM1,240 each. Sandakan ILP bought the same item for RM1,600 from KU.
Miri ILP had paid 2,360.5% more for their six pole platforms.
For amplifiers, Miri ILP again paid 231.6% more to NC. They were charged RM38,138 each for 16 units while Kepala Batas ILP paid ME RM11,500 each for theirs. Sandakan ILP paid RM25,100 each to KU for their amplifiers.
Another item which showed vast differences in the price was the purchase of electrical heavy duty stapling machine (single head).
Kuala Langat ILP paid RM11,102 for theirs while Kepala Batas ILP paid RM2,000 for the same piece of equipment. Miri ILP and Sandakan ILP paid RM6,416 and RM9,400 respectively.
The audit covered purchases made from September 2005 to July 2006.
