NEW NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH LAB - BIG DREAM TO ACCREDITATION

‘BIG DREAM’

New National Public Health Laboratory - Big Dream to accreditation

MFAET (EIF project)

Solomon Islands is now a step closer to achieving accreditation for testing of products following the opening of a new National Public Health Laboratory office complex last week. The SBD$1.1million project is funded by the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) through the Solomon Islands - Enhancing Capacity for Agriculture Trade Project (SI-ECAT). The Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) is multi-donor programme which supports Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in their effort of promoting economic growth and sustainable development by addressing their trade and trade-related constrains in order to build their capacity to trade and take advantage of global trade. Speaking during the opening ceremony last week, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Honourable Jeremiah Manele said this is a step forward and road towards accreditation through the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). “This is the “Big Dream”. To have our very own lab accredited. So that we can lower some of the costs of international trade, mainly in relation to our exports,” said Hon Manele. He said one of the very crucial consideration is for the NPHL staffs to have their own office. “We have seen and recognised that our NPHL officers have been using the Lab for testing and also as their office, which defeats the “Big Dream”, said Hon Manele. Hon Manele said there have also been some support from partners, activities geared toward ensuring the laboratory have capacity to do test safely. “The EIF ECAT project, have also supported with equipment’s and consumables and some trainings and consultancy activities, but this office building will be a big leap and progress towards accreditation,” he said. Hon Manele said there are two components of the Lab that needs to be looked at to ensure that Laboratory operations and manuals are in compliance with international standards and therefore accreditation. “These are in the areas of Micro Biology which is what the STDF program is supporting and Chemistry which the EIF ECAT will continue to support,” he said. Manele added that the road towards eventually achieving accreditation will be long and will need all the support that is required to achieve it. “With appropriate budget allocation and support, I am confident that we will achieve the big dream – accreditation,” he said. Manele thanked the EIF ECAT for the support and encouraged collaboration between MFAET and MHMS and other ministries who have the same aspirations going forward. The Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Culwick Togamana meanwhile said that he was extremely impressed with the new facility. “This is the first time in history for our NPHL scientists to be adequately accommodated in a proper office space. “The new office space will enable the NPHL to meet current ISO 17025 accommodation requirements, which will boost local testing capacity to international standards for the export of agricultural commodities such as Cassava and Taro including our very own Soltuna products, Kava, Noni Juice and so forth,” said Hon Dr Togamana. He added that as Solomon Islands prepares to graduate from LDC status by 2024, there is more to be done in terms of enhancing local capacity to be competitive in global markets. Hon Dr Togamana thanked other Government Ministries, Donor Partners and the Private sector for partnership and cooperation in making the project a success. This is not the first time that the EIF project has assisted the NPHL. The EIF ECAT project, have also supported the NPHL with equipment’s & consumables and some trainings and consultancy activities. The EIF project is housed within the Department of External Trade in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade(MFAET). l

From left to right; Ms Ruth Alepio SINPF Board Secretary, Mr Brian Diamond of the Australian High Commission, Mr Mike Wate CEO/GM SINPF, Mr Robert Au SINPF Board Member, Mr Jeremy Bartlett Managing Director Hatanga Ltd and Mr. Matt

White, Construction Manager Hatanga Ltd. (Photo: SINPF Media)

Hatanga Awarded Contract to Build Town Houses for DFAT

The Solomon Islands National Provident Fund (SINPF) Board has signed a construction agreement with Hatanga Limited to build 4 town houses, community center building, residential apartment building and a guard house/amenities building on its land above the Hibiscus Apartments in Point Cruz, Honiara, on Friday 4th March 2022. The construction agreement also includes an expansion to its Hibiscus Apartments. In his remarks prepared for the signing, SINPF Board Chairman Dr. Jimmie Rodgers expressed pleasure in the commencement of the construction of this exciting project, which can now proceed after the signing. The completion of this project will see the SINPF Board hosting the residences of DFAT officials working and living in our city and country, while the new development will also continue to contribute to efforts to provide a facelift to our city, Honiara. The tender for the project was done in two tiers or stages (EOI and prequalification) and tender proper to 5 shortlisted pre-qualified bidders. A local competent independent engineering firm also performed a peer review of the tender process. Hatanga Limited with similar competency as the other 4 bidders has made a successful competitive bid that was acceptable to the Board in terms of its price and expected timeline to complete the project. “It has taken us awhile in tendering for the construction of the project and the eventual successful selection of a competent local builder and contractor Hatanga Limited,”

the Chairman said. An agreement to lease has already been signed in June 2020 with the Australian High Commission on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia for an initial 11 years for the residential compound after the SINPF Board secured approval from the Minister of Finance earlier in the year in 2020. The SINPF Board’s expression of interest (EOI) was successful after responding to the Australian High Commission public request for an EOI to build a residence for its officials in 2018. The expansion to the apartments will include an additional 10 apartments and a commercial centre for tenants of the apartments. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the apartment had been enjoying consistently above 90-percent occupancy. The board expects this occupancy to return as restrictions on borders and movements are lifted. The total investment cost for the overall project will be around 112 million dollars, with the DFAT component accounting for about 67-percent of the total new investment and 33-percent for the Hibiscus Apartment Expansion. In his responses to the Chairman of the SINPF Board, the Managing Director of Hatanga Limited Mr. Jeremy Bartlett acknowledged and thanked the Board for giving the opportunity to a local contractor such as Hatanga Ltd. “This is a show of confidence in local Solomon Islands companies and I am proud of this achievement,” Mr. Bartlett said. Hatanga Ltd is expected to complete the DFAT compound first before completing the expansion to the apartments within 2 years. Also present at the signing was Mr. Brian Diamond of the Australian High Commission in Honiara, who reiterated that the Australian High Commission is proud to partner and work with the SINPF Board to finalise the project. As this is an investment for the people who are members of the Fund. “The Housing project will also assist us in attracting people overseas with families to Honiara, ensuring us to tap into the skills and resources we have in Australia to come and contribute to the development of Solomon Islands,” Mr. Diamond said. The SINPF Board is proud and happy to partner with Hatanga Limited, a competent national company, to invest in this new development that will build on and increase the wealth of our members’ retirement funds. Meanwhile, Dr Rodgers said that this is also a testimony of the SINPF Board’s confidence in our own economy by commencing this new investment in a particularly challenging period for our country. - SINPF Media l

Australia to Finance Six New Telecommunication Towers in Solomon Islands

By DOUGLAS SAEFOA

Australia has agreed to finance the construction of six new telecommunications towers in Solomon Islands at a cost of SBD $37.6 million (AUD6.5 million) this year. The Solomon Islands Government requested support for the towers as part of its COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts. On 2 March the Minister for Communication and Aviation, the Hon. Peter Shanel Agovaka and Australia’s Head of the Office of the Pacific Ewen McDonald exchanged signed copies of a funding arrangement. Australia will provide grant funding for the installation of six new 3G/4G telecommunications towers across three provinces: four in the Shortland Islands in Western Province, one in Isabel Province, and one in Malaita Province. The towers will utilise Ericsson mobile communications equipment, NEC microwave links and Australian-supplied towers. The construction package will be fully funded by Australia. Our Telekom has committed to installing, owning, operating, and maintaining the infrastructure as part of its broader mobile network. All six towers are expected to be operational by the second half of 2022. According to Minister Agovaka the project is aligned with the Government’s National Development Strategy and the National Security Strategy. “Enabling security, welfare, and connectivity for communities in remote parts of the country especially along the Western border is a key priority of my Ministry.” “We are grateful for Australia’s ongoing support to improving connectivity in Solomon Islands. The support is a testimony to the strong partnership between our two countries in the telecommunications sector that builds on the success of the Coral Sea Cable project to deliver improved internet connectivity to the people of Solomon Islands,” said Minister Agovaka. The increased 3G/4G internet coverage, particularly across the Shortland Islands, will enable more efficient and effective management of the border with Papua New Guinea. Chair, Solomon Telekom Company, Baoro Laxton Koraua, expressed pride at receiving the project on behalf of the people of Solomon Islands. “These towers are absolute gems for the company and the country and will improve current network coverage across the country” he said. Mr McDonald said that the agreement was an example of Australia’s ongoing commitment to improve connectivity especially for people living in the remote parts of Solomon

Islands. “These towers will increase connectivity, which is important not only for the Solomon Islands Government’s ability to respond to humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters, but also for boosting business opportunities for communities along the border, and strengthening health and education outcomes,” said Mr McDonald. Present at the event were several senior Government officials including Secretary to Prime Minister, Dr Jimmie Rodgers, Permanent Secretaries for Communication and Aviation Moses Virovolomo, Finance and Treasury, Mckinnie Dentana, Foreign Affairs and External Trade Collin Beck, Police, National Security and Correctional Services Karen Galokale, and CEO, for Solomon Telekom Company Ltd Christina Lasaqa. l

Solomon Islands Infrastructure Program to Build Six Provincial Markets

Australia’s flagship Solomon Islands Infrastructure Program (SIIP) has agreed to fast track redevelopment of six markets across Malaita, Guadalcanal, Honiara, Isabel and Western Province, improve provincial ports and launch a new SIIP website. SIIP is in its first phase of implementation. Work on the markets project is expected to commence by December 2022. These priorities were set at SIIP’s second joint Steering Committee meeting, co-chaired by Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Jimmie Rodgers and Australian High Commissioner Dr Lachlan Strahan. Given the volume of high-profile and urgent work coming down the SIIP pipeline, the Committee agreed to increase its meetings from every six months to quarterly. Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Rodgers emphasised that SIIP’s SBD1.5 billion infrastructure program is crucial for realising the economic potential of Solomon Islands. “SIIP will work with our local industries to build capacity, ensure appropriate designs and create employment while delivering national infrastructure such as markets which drive economic growth.” Australian High Commissioner Dr Strahan said social issues and economic growth were interdependent, and SIIP would drive local engagement and locally-led construction activities wherever possible. “The COVID-19 pandemic brings into sharp focus the importance of sustainable economic growth and has highlighted the need to create meaningful economic opportunities, both in Honiara and the provinces, for everyone, including young people, women, and marginalised groups,” said High Commissioner Strahan. “For many, this means connecting gardens to markets to create family income. The new markets in Buala (Isabel), Malu’u (Malaita) and Seghe (Western province) will ensure people have economic opportunities that are accessible and inclusive. This will ensure the continued generation of much needed daily income, which Australia, through SIIP, is proud to facilitate,” he said. While based on the Gizo market, the design of the additional markets will be adjusted to improve functionality and coverage of commodities such as fish. The locations of the markets in Honiara (one) and Guadalcanal (two) will be determined shortly. The SIIP Hub briefed the Steering Committee, which includes the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of National Planning and Development Coordination, Susan Sulu, and Finance and Treasury, Mckinnie Dentana, on SIIP’s wide range of upcoming infrastructure activities, including by helping to realise Bina Harbour in Malaita through a water and saniThe COVID-19 pandemic brings into sharp focus the importance of sustainable economic growth and has highlighted the need to create meaningful economic opportunities, both in Honiara and the provinces, for everyone, including young people, women, and marginalised groups....

tation feasibility study and undertaking an assessment to improve and expand Noro Port. The Steering Committee also noted the progress made on the New Zealand led project to upgrade the Taro and Seghe runways and the Australian-led design for the Naha Birthing Centre and Urban Clinic. Dr Strahan complimented the program team for remaining flexible, adaptable and accessible to the changing economic circumstances of Solomon Islands. “Despite recent challenges of civil unrest and COVID, SIIP has laid the groundwork for an ambitious ten-year program of construction and strengthening the private sector.” Dr Strahan said SIIP complements a range of other Australia-Solomon Islands development partnerships, including the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific, the Australia Awards program, the Australian Pacific Training Coalition and Strongim Bisnis. “As Australia’s flagship investment in Solomon Islands for promoting national connectivity and building climate-resilient and sustainable infrastructure, SIIP will work with these other programs to deliver SIIP’s key point of difference to traditional infrastructure projects – a long term focus on inclusive infrastructure, capacity building, inclusion of lifecycle asset planning and local opportunities for employment and business,” said Dr Strahan. SIIP will continue working closely with a range of partners, including the local business sector, to progress the initiatives approved by the Steering Committee. Funded by the Australian Government, SIIP is a SBD1.5 billion partnership launched last year between Australia and Solomon Islands to enhance Solomon Islands economic growth by supporting government and industry to plan, deliver and manage economic infrastructure. - SIIP Press Release l

SECURING OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH A TENDER ALERT SERVICE

By DOUGLAS SAEFOA

Searching for Tender opportunities has never been an easy task especially in recent Covid-19 age where social interaction and exposure to public areas is limited. This has given precedence to the new digital marketplace that continue to enable buyers and suppliers to interact using digital platforms, one of which is the Tender Alert Service. Tender alert services or better known as Tender Notifications Services have transformed the traditional means of searching for tender opportunities. With the new age of digital marketing, Big Business and companies have turned to paperless sourcing and digital platforms to optimize tender searches on the digital space that is much cheaper and convenient.

A Tender alert service is digital platform that links buyers to suppliers to publish and source Tenders online using a simple 3 step process: Source, Sort and Send. > Source - Collating tenders, RFQs, RFPs, EOIs etc. from thousands of different sources > Sort - Categorising all these tenders by industry, category, location, status and keywords > Send - Matching tenders to user search profiles and email relevant opportunities

However, there’s actually a lot more to it. While it may be clear how a Tender Alert Service (TAS) can save you time, money and effort when compared to finding tenders yourself, it’s hard to fully grasp how much value you can get until you know what’s going on behind the scenes. Understanding how a tender notification service works will ensure you know what you’re paying for before you subscribe, and allow you to identify differences in how providers function at each step, and what impact this might have on you as a subscriber. Here’s an overview of how the three key steps function here at Pacific Tenders:

Step 1: Source

As you may already be aware, there’s no single, centralised platform which all Procurers use to advertise their tenders, resulting in literally thousands of different, individual sources in the region (e.g. daily newspaper, social media, organizational websites, government websites, etc.). That’s what makes this first step necessary – tender notification services including Pacific Tenders monitor all these sources, collating any new tenders, RFQs, RFPs, EOIs, vacancies and other business opportunities from across all industries in the Pacific region to ensure full market coverage. The process for sourcing tenders differs depending on whether they’re ‘internal’ or ‘external’:

Internal

These are tenders published directly through system referred to as a “Buyer Portal”, (an upgrade to Tender Alert Service (TAS)). As the region’s largest tender marketplace, we not only source tenders for Suppliers, but also provide Procurers (Buyers) with the technology to publish tenders and manage the responses. We call organisations using our technology ‘Buyer Partners’, and the technology they use ‘Portals’ - mini websites specifically designed for that particular tendering process tendering process. Any tenders our Buyer Partners publish are considered internal because they’re uploaded directly into our database. What this means is that around 1 in 5 public tenders can only be accessed exclusively through our system. If you’ve got a subscription to our notification service, you’ll be able to access any of these opportunities using one single login from one single account. Otherwise, you’ll have to register and create a separate account and username for each individual portal.

External (Repackaged)

Tenders from any other sources are considered external, because they’re published outside of our Tender Notification system. For example, tenders from other websites, portals hosted by other providers, trade journals, magazines, newspapers etc. Each day we monitor these external sources for tenders, collecting all the available information and documentation, including details of where to submit a response. Each tender is then manually checked before being loaded onto our database. For example, if the Solomon Islands Government hosts tenders on their website, we’ll monitor that site, collect the tender notice, check it, and then manually load it into our system. Otherwise, you may need to register in order to submit a response or make further inquiry.

Step 2: Sort

Once all the tenders are in our database, our experienced Operations team sort them by industry category, sector and location (including state, region, and sub-region). Depending on the scope of the tender and the range of the goods and services required, a single tender may fall under more than one of these categories and/or locations. Each tender then goes through a final manual verification process to double-check that all categorisation criteria is correct. This step is important because the more specific and accurate the categorisation, the more likely it is that Suppliers will receive the most relevant tenders for their business which is filtered in the TAS. With over 400 categories in total, we cover a wide range of industries, which allows for a more precise match. For example, the ‘Construction’ category is one of our most common, with a large quantity of tenders falling under this broad industry classification. However, if you’re a Supplier who only provides bricklaying services within your local area, you won’t want to waste time shifting through tenders for plumbing services, just because they’re considered part of the construction category – it would defeat the purpose of subscribing to a TAS in the first place! That’s why we have so many different industry categories and subcategories, so that Suppliers can narrow down their tender search as much as possible.

Step 3: Send

This final step is obviously the most exciting since it involves the actual tender notification! In order for this step to work, each subscriber needs to have at least one ‘search profile’ set up in our system, specifying which industry categories and locations are relevant to their business. You can also include search keywords, which will cross-reference the selected term with the tender description. Since the accuracy of this search profile is crucial to ensuring the right types of tenders are sent, our dedicated on boarding team works closely with new subscribers to guide them through this process. Each day our purpose-built system then automatically filters any new tenders which match the search profile criteria, and collates them into one single email, including the Buyer name, tender name and description, and a link to more information. If the tender source is internal, the link will take you to login to your Pacific Tenders dashboard so that you can download any relevant documents and respond accordingly. If the tender source is external, the link will take you to the original source, where you may need to register in order to submit a response to the tender. Got questions or want to know more about our tender notification service? Chat to one of our friendly team or check out our plans! Subscribe now by clicking the link or contact us on email sales@pacifictenders.com. l