The PPS opened tenders from eight companies which accepted the offer to bid for the contract to supply anti-retroviral drugs under the OECS Global Fund project.

The OECS Secretariat in January this year signed an agreement with the Global Fund to be Principle Recipient for a grant of 2.8 million US dollars for care, treatment and support to persons affected with HIV/AIDS in OECS Member States over the next two years. The OECS PPS are sub-recipient responsible for procurement of anti-retroviral drugs.

Managing Director Mr. Francis Burnett, who opened the tender documents, says the next step in the process is to link with focal points in Member States, through a conference call, to evaluate the bids and award contracts.

He says PPS hopes to be in a position to inform the successful supplier in about three weeks, so that Member States can quickly begin to put in their orders. The bids cover a total of sixteen drugs.

The tenders box was opened on Thursday by Ms. Alison Jean, Central Medical Stores Manager in St. Lucia, and was witnessed by Ms. Belinda Bady the Regional Director of the Clinton Foundation; Mr. Leo Casimir the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the OECS HIV/AIDS Project Unit (HAPU); and from the PPS, Deborah Ryner-Wade Procurement Officer, Angeline Anius Procurement Assistant, and Brenda Cox Information Systems Assistant.