Local Procurement – Something need to change – MAF vs DAF.

If you have ever worked for government in Africa (but not only) and try to bid you should know they ask for MAF.

What is MAF? MAF Stands for Manufacturer Authorization Form.

Government and its agencies but not only, many big organisations also ask for MAF when they are going for tenders of large project supplies,.

Its my view that this came to place many years ago, in the stone age, when manufacturers didn’t have distributors in Africa and representatives, so in order for government to be sure they buy / get authentic equipment they insisted on MAF.

Back in the day it might have made sense but we are in the 21st century and about to clock to the 22nd century, it is time things change.

For the last 10+ years lots of manufacturers have appointed local distributors in Africa, and it is a fact that it would be for the great benefit of government to work only with installers, re-sellers, dealers that work with local distributors and not companies that might work with the manufacturer directly or ells import special for the job.

In fact, government should encourage more and more distributors to in their region as it is good for the economy, distributors import bulk qty of goods and pay all the taxes for the goods while those who import small qty usually don’t end up paying all the taxes such as pre-inspection etc, as the values are much lower then the big consignments.

There are by far more advantages for government to work with or in fact insist on working with installers / dealers / re-sellers that work with local distributors and when it comes to tenders – to ask for DAF and not MAF….

1. When government award a tender to a dealer / re-seller “x” and 2 years later they are not happy with them: If dealer x imported equipment specialty for a tender, that government agency wont be able to get anyone to support them or get locally spare parts for those units, often – items of the USA or other places in the world are not meant for Africa and so who ever they ask will have to import spare part specially for that unit, it is not just costs but will also take much longer time, not to mention – there might not be a part for that unit any more available or in many cases spare parts are not sold on the market and you may not have access to those easily and or at a cost effective price, that will lead to buying a all new system or product instead of just a part. However – if dealer “y” will work with a local distributor and after 2 years the government is not happy with that dealer – when and if they will wish to work with another dealer / re-seller things would be easier in terms of local support, spare parts etc
2. Local warranty – when and if your items are bought directly from a manufacturer that does not have local representative / distributor in 99% of the cases your product / system wont have local warranty. in a way people and organizations in Africa “got used” or just don’t know what warranty is. If you buy from Amazon or even get items directly from a manufacturer, the item warranty is back where you git it from, that means the dealer or you will have to ship it back at your costs, wait for the items be tested and repaired – this takes time – then the item is shipped back and get held in customs again. If you are lucky and you did everything by the book (meaning declared the custom that you are shipping the item back for warranty) you wont pay taxes again, but if you didn’t – you will pay tax again – meaning loss. However – when and if your dealer get the product / solution from local distributors – the product comes with local warranty, most of the times it range between 1-5 years. Not only that will save money time but also time, in many cases distributors hold locally the spare parts so the waiting time is short and lastly in few times under warranty if the item is faulty you will end up with a replacement unit or if the system is not working some distributors will borrow the client a stand by unit until their unit is repaired and or replaced with a new one.
3. Training – surely when products are imported directly training is limited as the dealer working directly with the manufacturer in many cases will either have someone travel for the project for a limited time – as it cost lots of money per day, not to mention flights and other costs – but the most important element here is that that person will fly out at the end of the implementation and training – not only the costs of the project will be higher also some of that money will end up abroad and there wont be any local capacity building of companies to provide after sales support. if a product is sourced from a local distributor, the training is available for FREE for unlimited time, and yes this is key especially when you the tender is about a big project and or lots of sophisticated equipment.

I think it is time that government and large organisations change this and get to understand the benefits of what they are asking from their installers/re-sellers.

On one hand everyone announce upgrades and moving to e-systems to work online BUT the documentation asked is still the same old documents with addition of new things such as TAX clearance, Certifications of some sorts BUT – why MAF???