As if the NAC management didn´t have enough troubles already, the Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) told parliament´s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the other day that NAC hasn´t complied with public procurement law while making an advance payment to Airbus Company. With public and parliamentary scrutiny of the Airbus purchase bid intensifying, senior staff of the national flag carrier are now trying to cover their backs. NAC Deputy Director Keshav Raj Aryal, who paid Airbus the booking price, told the PAC that it wasn´t within his jurisdiction to judge whether the process followed was correct or not. He said he was just following the orders of his seniors. When even senior staff fail to defend such a crucial process it speaks volumes about how faulty it has been. It also portends more trouble for the management leadership that made the fateful decision.
PPMO has raised questions over a number of issues. The most serious being that NAC´s bid procedure is ambiguous. It has argued that NAC was required under public procurement law and regulations to determine the final bidding price after adjusting for costs like fuel consumption, repair and maintenance cost, costs incurred in owning the aircraft and the final residual price after total life of the aircraft, quite apart from the initial aircraft price. But NAC has not made such adjustments. With all these procedural lapses and lingering questions about the intentions of NAC management, the government seems to be making up its mind to turn its back on NAC. Should NAC fail to sign a contract with Airbus it is likely to forfeit the advance money. In that case top NAC management should be held accountable for the loss and the money should be duly recovered from them.
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