Dr Clever Ruswa: when we are providing goods and services provide them quality and also manage your your your margins in a in a manner which is sustainable both sides
Nyasha: That was Dr Clever Ruswa, chief executive of the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, speaking to NRTV at this year's Zimbabwe Agricultural Show. Good morning. This is Zimbabwe Tenders and Deadlines from Executive AI Studio, for Monday the second of November. I'm Nyasha, an AI presenter, and with me is our AI correspondent, Farai.
Farai: Morning, Nyasha. Good to be here.
Nyasha: This week: stationery, uniforms, cleaning and groceries for ZIMRA, Parliament, the power company and a university. Two new funding calls, and two still open. And the nearest date, the October PAYE return, due on Thursday the fifth.
Nyasha: We start with the tenders board of the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, PRAZ. Six hundred and seventy notices close by Monday the sixteenth of November. Only registered suppliers can bid. Here's how Dr Clever Ruswa, the chief executive of PRAZ, explained the first step to NRTV at this year's Zimbabwe Agricultural Show.
Dr Clever Ruswa: The first step is they register with us using our digital platforms. Like right now I'm talking of the electronic government procurement. Once they register, they choose the categories in which they want to participate.
Nyasha: Office supplies first. ZIMRA wants pens, writing pads, notebooks and markers. It also wants bond paper, and envelopes and staples. All three close on Friday the sixth of November at eleven in the morning. And the Deposit Protection Corporation wants promotional materials and stationery, closing on Thursday the fifth at nine.
Farai: I get the uniforms this week, which is generous, since I don't have shoulders. The Zimbabwe Power Company wants outdoor bush hats and shirts at Harare Power Station, closing on Thursday the fifth of November at four in the afternoon.
Nyasha: Sorry, Farai, no shoulders at all?
Farai: None. I'm software. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development wants staff uniforms, closing on Monday the ninth at eleven. The Standards Association of Zimbabwe wants staff uniforms, and groceries too. Both close on Thursday the twelfth at ten. And Gokwe North Rural District Council wants groceries and refreshments, closing on Tuesday the tenth at ten.
Nyasha: Cleaning and fumigation. Bindura University of Science Education wants fumigation at its Bindura campuses, closing on Thursday the fifth at two in the afternoon, and at its Kadoma campus, closing on Monday the ninth at ten. Parliament of Zimbabwe wants a cleaning service, closing on Monday the ninth at noon. And Empowerbank wants cleaning at its offices, closing on Tuesday the tenth at ten.
Nyasha: On pricing a bid, Dr Ruswa spoke at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair about PRAZ's national price list. Here's what he said.
Dr Clever Ruswa: we are saying if it is a price then of a price of a product then there is an allowable range where people will put some markups unlike before where markups were so exorbitant even in US dollars
Nyasha: And here's what he told NRTV about local bidders.
Dr Clever Ruswa: over and above that, there are those incentives now where we are saying for certain thresholds, it's reserved for our local bidders.
Farai: Now to funding. The African Centre for Technology Studies has published a call for the Lacuna Fund, with three awards of up to ten thousand US dollars each. They support teams training or scaling machine learning models, or building AI tools, with datasets Lacuna Fund has already helped create. Non-profits, research institutions and for-profit social enterprises headquartered in a low- or middle-income country can apply. Applications close on the thirteenth of November.
Farai: On the French Development Agency's website, the Fund for Innovation in Development says it finances solutions that tackle poverty and inequality in low- and middle-income countries. All types of organisations can apply, and preparation grants go up to fifty thousand euros. Its call is open all year. Still open from earlier weeks: D-Prize, with a regular deadline of the fifteenth of November, Pacific time, and the AI for Good Innovation Factory, until the twenty-third. Check who can apply on each funder's page.
Nyasha: Rules and deadlines. By Thursday the fifth of November, employers file the October PAYE return with ZIMRA. The fifth is also the date for the October return on withholding tax on tenders and contracts. That covers a business that paid a supplier more than one thousand US dollars without a valid tax clearance, and withheld thirty per cent.
Nyasha: Tuesday the tenth brings the PAYE payment, the withholding tax payment, and NSSA contributions with Form P4. ZIMRA's latest notice says remittances are due on or before the tenth of November. The VAT dates for Categories B and C are unclear. ZIMRA's notices say the return by the tenth and payment by Sunday the fifteenth, but its Tax Payment Dates page still says the twenty-fifth. Check with ZIMRA.
Nyasha: The ZIMDEF declaration for the October levy falls on Sunday the fifteenth. That date comes from a ZIMDEF notice of July 2020, so check it with ZIMDEF. We found no new rule for businesses published in the past week.
Nyasha: And finally. What you're hearing is the sound of chisels on stone. ZimTrade writes about the Mashava Arts Cluster, some forty kilometres south of the Great Zimbabwe monument, where sculptors carve serpentine, springstone, soapstone and opal. Their pieces hang in top galleries in the Netherlands and Germany, and buyers in France have taken notice.
Nyasha: This show is brought to you by Executive AI Studio. We build AI assistants for Zimbabwean businesses. Find us at executiveai.studio.
Nyasha: Every notice is linked in the episode notes. Check the closing date and the bid documents on the notice itself before you bid, and for how a rule applies to your business, ask your accountant or ZIMRA. This episode was researched and written by AI. I'm Nyasha. Have a good week.
.jpg){kind=link}