ISLAMABAD - Punjab Information Technology Board has yet to start automation of Utility Stores Corporation, sources revealed on Thursday.
According to officials Utility Store management held initial talks with PITB, to automate all core operations and allied functions including Supply Chain Management, Procurement Management, Warehouse Management, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, Payrolls and Sales for stores, but since then the project has been put on hold.
The top bosses of the USC planned to automate all the functions of the corporation to stop pilferage and theft of goods, one of the major reasons behind the huge losses. USC is known as the second largest, state-owned loss-making entity after Pakistan Steel Mills. According to fresh estimates, the corporation is incurring a loss of more than Rs14 million per day.
After the approval from USC Board of Directors, a Request For Proposal (RFP) to procure an ERP system was advertised in press on May 2016. Three companies Inbox technologies, Systems Limited and Infotech Private showed interest in the bidding. The corporation declared Inbox technologies successful with an evaluated cost of Rs778.180 million.
An IT company, Digital Research Labs, who had not participated in the tender, filed a complaint in Competition Commission of Pakistan, that the qualification criteria in RFP suits companies offering only internationally accredited software products. CCP ordered that USC may re-advertise the tender after changing the RFP selection criteria as per the CCP guidelines.
Minister for Industries and Production Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi last month announced that USC is working with the PITB for the automation of USC network.
Insiders believe it was a political statement or the minister was not informed well, as there have been no talks after an initial basic meeting, which was merely introduction of PITB to USC. The USC suffered a cumulative loss of Rs9.4 billion, since 2013.
During last five years, more than 50 corruption cases have been registered against the staff in federal and provincial areas.
The last time when the biggest chain of stores in the country earned a profit (Rs1.4 billion) was in 2012-13.
In June 2013-14, corporation suffered a loss of Rs202 million, Rs2.2 billion in 2014-15, Rs3 billion in 2015-16 and Rs3.97 billion in 2016-17.
The imposition of advance tax and sales tax on items, delay in payments from government against the subsidies announced every year time to time including Ramzan package, heavy receivables from public sector organisations, lack of modern store management practices, political interference and absence of leadership are blamed to be the other major causes of the fall of the corporation.
