 Okay, I think we can start so good morning everybody and thanks for being with us today It's the second day of our meeting and we are getting into training training on equipment on Purchasing use and maintenance The first item in the agenda is by miss lessego or select a vice chair of Glow of Afrilab from Botswana. Let's go. Are you with us? Yes, I'm here Morning, let's go. So I would like to I would like to give you the floor to tell us about good practices on Purchasing and operating laboratory equipment. So the floor is yours. You will be playing the presentation from your computer Yeah, okay, perfect. So let me start sharing Where am I? I Think I lost the way Look crucial what happened? I Don't know Share screen I want to share screen. Let me know if you want me to play it for you Can you see it Yes Good morning everybody. Good. Good day. I have forgotten that such a sound is not a good morning. Good day everybody My name is Lessego, I work for the Department of Agriculture Research in Botswana Today I will be presenting to you about good practices in purchasing and operating laboratory equipment And This will be And I'll be following the guidance of this publication that can be seen on the web as you can see on the on on your screen And and our presentation is going to flow as like And we are going to start off by trying to understand what do we mean by practice? Then we look at the good Practices in purchasing and then we go to good practices in operating the laboratory equipment The dictionary definition says the actual application or use of an idea a leaf or method as Opposed to theories relating to it. That's the definition for practice. When is it now called a Good practice. It's a good practice when It effectively and successfully produce desired desired results and In when we zoom in to look at us in the laboratory, we are saying it has to be It comes to the sensitivity and efficiency of used equipment and integrity of open of obtained results Here we are looking at Goodness that is coming from well calibrated equipment Equipment that has been Set up properly It's a bad practice when when one just uses equipment without pre-preparation How do we go about preparing to Purchase a piece of equipment First we need to carry out an audit on What on our needs and capacities? What does the demand for our savings tell us? What kind of personnel do we have? What's the budget like? Do we see any availing opportunity out there and look at the facility that you have Does it allow you to have More equipment or new equipment into into the building and For you before you can place an order Once we have I then you have looked at your needs and the capacity that you have Now you have to do research on that which you have identified and you think you want to buy So you look at you do your research on this specific Equipment that you want to buy so that you you find out about the new versions the upgraded versions on that specific equipment and the price ranging Is it still on the affordable arrange or is it? in the Cooperation levels that you used to know if it's a piece of equipment that you heard previously Then you need to look at The suppliers in the region, you know country and in the region and you look at the record of the support Being provided around that area by the different supplies This is to try and avoid buying a piece of equipment that you would not have Support after the warranty period is over Now you come to the procuring stage when before you do the procurement now that you have done the assessment and completed What you need to know for you to go into procurement now you have to form a team You're forming a team because you don't want to be doing the procurement alone and miss the requirements of the administration Unit which is responsible for finances So you're going to have a team that is going to do the procurement and you look at the cost You look at the cost and say with that estimated cost which I found through research Does this require for an invitation to tender or does it require for a? A Requestion for quotation quotation depend you on the country. What is the limitation for quotation and what is the limitation for the invitation to tender in some countries? We find that this after 100,000 300,000 you have to make it an open tender for everybody to quote And you have to bring in now You have to draw the the specification As the technical person you have to draw the specification of that equipment and then now you sit down with that team of the technical people from the lab and the administration people who will be doing the procurement you sit down together now you draw this ITT or RFQ and you Make sure that the ITT has the information full details of the procuring entity It has all the required documents the required documents for example will be your supplier the requirement for the Text clearance certificates Trading licenses for example. Those are the Legal documents and then you make sure that you state in the ITT the validity period For that that you you propose you need to have a validity period stated in the In the coach this will be outlining in your ITT. You also state the delivery Lever time 48 weeks mostly in in some areas is 48 weeks like in Botswana will say 48 weeks because we take most of Our stuff from outside and we also want the supplier to state the warranty for the equipment and you also give them the minimum I Would like you to give me an equipment with a minimum warranty maybe of 12 months Then you have to make sure that the ITT in the ITT The the specifications that you have brought in you have prepared now comes in as part of the ITT And you also stand state in the ITT. What will be the training required sometimes you have You are buying a piece of human that you have used earlier. You may state a few days for the training that will be required required And for the stuff and then the bill of quantities sometimes we draw an ITT You are not just buying one piece of equipment. You're buying two pieces of equipment in under the bill of quantities We are stating how many do I need to purchase so that the supplier when they code Depending on the quantities that you want they may Have a better way of of pricing You have also on the ITT to clarify that and How are you going to? Allocate your Tender here. You are saying if I'm ordering more than one pieces of equipment Then it means Whoever is going to be tendering they have to understand that it doesn't necessarily mean that I'll give them the whole order I might give them one item and give the other item to the other Supplier and then you come to state in the condition and method of payment here You are telling the supplier that you only pay At the end only on the satisfactory Satisfactory delivery of the order The next stage now will be the evaluation of the tender Now that you have you have done that your ITT have send it out and You have received the quotations now you have to evaluate the tender the first stage that will be doing you be saying in my ITT I have requested for Legal Documents now you're looking at the compliance the supplier have they complied to you the request that you had on your your tender Have they provided the legal document? Have they complied more especially to this technical specifications of the equipment? Have they stated the delivery period? and You need assurance of the after sales support have they provided the severe of the maintenance A person and the maintenance blend for the equipment and then What's what's the quality of the equipment life? And and the equipment costing Now you once you have gone through all that Let me see what fresh can I get here now that you have done all that you Can go into You have done the evaluation you have based the order now you go into receiving the order You go into receiving the order When the order comes before the supply before this day supplied they have given you the brochures in The ITT when they tend that they bring in the brochures you have you have read you see you have Seen the requirements for the equipment Now you have to prepare before you receive the equipment you prepare you set up the area Where you are going to put your equipment security wise electricity connection network points ventilation All that is required for the new equipment make sure that is well set and ready for the equipment to be installed Then you have to confirm that the order came as It was on the order Have the supplier provided everything that you requested for and you allow the supplier To open the packages because here you are trying to avoid being the one opening up the packages finding some breakdowns and then being Blamed for the breakdown. So you make sure that the supply they open the packages they install the equipment and You are there So that you see that all that you ordered has been included and Then the other thing that you have to do you have to be sure that your Technicians around whether you are the one being the technician you have to be there and as the installation is being done You take notes here. You are saying once the person the engineer is born. I want something a Backup so that I can refer to and understand Or refresh my mind on what was Demonstrated and what was the we're being trained on and you make sure that all the ones who are the technician who are going to operate the equipment They are there The calibration the initial Installation calibration you make sure that the supplier they ready the equipment for you You don't want them to go away and then you try to set up and every thing not waking so you make sure that they Do the setup the equipment is ready for you to operate They do the demo in that that part where the technician attending They have to do the what is called the commission of the equipment So now they are calibrating the produce. They have to give you a calibration plan Say we have calibrated the machine and this is the frequency at which it has to be recalibrated for good results production and You have to make sure that you have information contact details For your supplier or the manufacturer And you have to also know about Who else have the equipment in your area so that you you get in touch You communicate you share information you get advice from each other You or whatever challenges you meet before you can even go to the supply You might find that somebody who is using the equipment in your area You can sit together and and get the problem resolved Now that the equipment is here We have to use it First before use we have to make sure that the demo has been done And the machine is set up, but I have to understand the equipment myself So I have to go through the manual read the manual and I know what I'm going to be using the equipment for I have to develop the SOP for the equipment So that everybody who uses the machine follow the SOP this will help in Keeping the equipment running longer Because and getting good results because we are following a consistent and standard operating procedure You have to have a monitoring tool as we use the equipment There is the minor maintenance and the main measure maintenance You have to make sure that you you you do the daily Minor things in the equipment like draining of the waste cleaning the banners all those small things and make sure that They have been they have been done Look at look for identify the safety measures required Here we are saying you are going to be using a piece of equipment and You are going to be using chemicals to prepare the samples that you are going to be using on the equipment You are maybe also going to be using some gases in the equipment So you have to read the the safety Datages for this one so that you know what is required of you Then you all that will also help you to determine the type of protection that you will need to use Now that you have all that information sit and draw the maintenance play How frequent is the machine going to have the minor and the major? maintenance and Then you check your stock levels Some some labs they have the laboratory information system where they have all the stock and everything in the system And they have to pop up messages that remind them on the level for refills But where might you are using cuts? You have to make sure that you go through your cuts and check that your stock levels will not Stop the operations if they have gone to refill levels make sure that You do the refilling now you are going to operate the machine Ppe it's critical You have to make sure that you are using the correct Ppe Ppe and you have to be sure that Immediately after Installation and the demonstration or the training you use the machine to avoid forgetting Some operation even if it were not only one person attending the demo you might find that the whole team has forgotten about a few things and Maybe you are not even You try to read the manual you missed now it's going to be it's going to cost you Because you will have to recall the supplier or the engineer to come and redo the demonstration So practicing well in time to make sure that you understand the equipment and use it immediately will help all It will help you work cost effectively after use And We have to make sure that we record what we have observed during the operation Is the machine calling for operate for for maintenance? Is there any deterioration? Sometimes if your plan says every three months our do the maintenance You might find that the workload says otherwise We have overloaded the equipment now it requires a maintenance area than the time because you are seeing that from the record on the equipment Performance to dispose of The waste if they have in there's any waste That has to be disposed of and ensure that you dispose as recommended in the Disposed in the risk assessment recommendations when we are looking at the Safety data sheets they gave us Recommendation on how to dispose of waste so we have to be sure that we dispose of waste as per recommendation tidy up the area and if the Type of equipment that we are using need to be covered from to avoid dust and all that make sure that you cover the equipment Once you have completed that you take your stock level you go back to you have checked your stock now you have to do the orders well in time To ensure that the delivery comes before you you are stopped from doing your job and I think Our Slides come to an end here and thank you very much for your attention Thank you. Lucrezia. Thank you very much to you let's say go it was a very very interesting I think so I would like to ask participants if they have any question Either by rising their hand or by writing them in the chat Let me see Hmm, is there any question for let's say go if not, I don't see any hands up So I would like to thank you very much. Let's say go and we now pass to the next item in the agenda that is actually by me and It's about procurement of laboratory equipment and all of you. Let me quickly just Switch the screen So all of you answered Questionnaire on procurement or at least the majority of you we received the 56 replies So I integrated your answers. I'm just giving a second and move all of this I Integrated your answer in my presentation on how actually to do a procurement or what would be a right Procedure to do it at least according to FAO, okay So, let me play it So indeed many thanks to all of you that replied the survey we received 56 answer in total we will now see some of the replies you provided at the very beginning of these Training session, but then I integrated some of your answers or actually the outcomes of the survey in the next slides really on the training so the first question we asked you if is a if Your laboratory is directly responsible for procuring the equipment and consumables it needs The majority of respondents said yes, so 73% of them said yes Then how do you procure the equipment and consumable you need? Again, the majority said that they don't do it Directly so they're not directly responsible for it But they send a list of what they need to another office and then they procure the equipment Still we have a majority the cell like by other means Do you have a transparent and well-organized procurement procedure for example a written document Reporting how the items to procure should be identified the technical specifications are should be prepared The bid is launched and the offers are evaluated 63% of respondents said yes, but still we have sorry said yes Still we have 24.4% that yes they said yes, but it's not to complete So in this sense the way some are implemented is a bit blurry And then there is a 12% that still I think it's quite significant that said no They don't have a transparent and well-organized procurement procedure When do you do the procurement well the majority of Laboratories said the when I need it when I need to improve the analytical capacity of my laboratory and Still 17% of respondents said when I have budget to do it All these all like a better analysis of the answers provided will be in the report of the meeting Let me tell you Let me tell you a bit about Am I still connected? Sorry Yes Tell you a bit about the procurement in Glossalon because yesterday during her presentation Not many said that we provided the equipment to 21 Laboratories that participated to the Glossalon PT 2019 and you can see them here in the map You see like we try to have a geographical balance So that all regions Were served So what did we do? Well first of all we looked at laboratories that participated to the Glossalon PT 2019 only so only those that participated in the PT could compete for equipment We gave the possibility to Compete for equipment to all laboratory that show the good proficiency in soil analysis and that could compete for receiving financial support From FAO as you know FAO cannot provide budget or any other type of support to developed countries So only countries that are classified as developing countries could apply for For could compete for these resources and there is also some exception for those countries in transition from a state to the other Here you see an example of how we Selected these labs based on their PT results. You see in this case all parameters were fine But one for one soil type in this case We accepted the country in the laboratory for the for the competition on equipment And then we also have excellence cases like this one in which all Well, the results of the PT were so good that we had no outliers What we did not accept so that those that could not compete for The equipment Where laboratories that had this type of results. So either they analyze very very few parameters Or they still analyze parameters, but they obtain I don't want to say bad results But like results that did not meet our standards Then all laboratories that qualify to receive the equipment were asked to complete an equipment purchasing assessment Like this. So in which we focus on the identification of needs Indeed in this form we inquired about the status of laboratory facilities the type of analysis performed in the lab the Equipment the lab would need that the most in relation to the type of analysis to use it for and Ability of the lab to operate and well maintain the equipment we will eventually provide them with and Ultimately the ability of the lab to organize and host training for other laboratories in the country if gloss on strength and their capacity So the final decision on the laboratories to support was made based on their answers on the answers of these labs To this assessment and only laboratories that send us back the assessment could compete for equipment Indeed what happened is that sometimes we contacted the laboratories Making them they offer so telling them look you put you you can't compete for equipment and they didn't reply to us So in that case this laboratory Well, we did not work with them anymore. We did not consider them for the procurement Just a note and here I also have to well Apologize but this in a few slides Laboratories that did not qualify for receiving equipment were asked to complete another type of assessment aiming to identify the areas for improvement and These these assessment here you see on the screen. So we we aim to identify what went wrong From the reception of the samples to the sample preparation sample analysis calibration quality control and data reporting And we also asked the lab for an opinion. So we asked them What do you think it went wrong and what actions did you took did you take to improve the performance? Your performance after receiving their results of of your PT now after the results of the statistical analysis So in this regard, I have to apologize to these other group of laboratories because unfortunately the workload was such that we couldn't Establish any forums for this discussion and support. We will try to establish this type of forums as soon as possible So please accept my apologies if we did not follow up to your answers to these to these assessment So at this point what we did the well the gloss on chair vice chair and myself as FAO identified the type of support to provide to each laboratory to send us back the assessment Priority was given to equipment need needed for chemical and fertilizer analysis And still we did our best to provide labs with the equipment that can operate and maintain But not only we also looked at creating a balance so that we don't give for example $50,000 equipment to one lab and a thousand dollar equipment to another we looked for a balance in the investments We were making on each laboratory There after laboratories were informed on the decision of gloss on so what type of equipment we can provide them with and We're asked to send us technical specifications So in this regard we gave them some freedom. We told them, okay, please write the technical specification for this type of equipment that we can purchase for you, but they were free to write the technical specifications as They wanted So we also assessed a bit of their capacity in writing technical specifications And I want to give you an example of what we got back We had the case for example in which two different countries So two different laboratories because we are purchasing equipment for one laboratory per country Well, we basically get the same equipment But the way they've wrote to the technical specifications is completely different So these are the technical specifications provided by the first laboratory. You see very short There are no quality control Criteria's basically that they're very very basic and these are the technical specifications for Second laboratory that is applying for the same equipment So what did we notice? This is just an example, but that well reflected what we received back And that's also why we are a bit late on the procurement because we had actually I had to go back Several times to the laboratories to ask them to improve their technical specifications and comply with all FAO standards So in general we notice that the majority of laboratories know what they want But they do not know how to ask for it So they they're not able to well formulate your their request still technical specifications are rather vague and incomplete and They do not want to put as quality control criteria here I took definition of what is a quality control criteria from internet Basically, it's whatever it takes to satisfy a customer So the characteristic of a good or service that determine whether it meets the express and implied requirement of its customers Basically, that's needed to assess whether what the offer you are receiving. It's in line with what you want So the quality control criteria are super important to assess the offers received through a bid So let's get a bit into the details. What should be included in the technical specifications? Well, there are some elements that are key to write the technical specifications There are these are the characteristics of the equipment you want and As long as you don't approach a vendor directly So I don't know you go to that specific manufacturer and say I want these Equipment these model of your equipment. You should not specify any brand Okay, because you should leave it open to vendors to make the offer Then you need to specify the unit of measure well in the case of equipment usually It's a each because you talk about pieces of equipment again If you if we talk about reagents, you might specify maybe liters and put like a three liters or whatever you need There each item that you have in the technical specifications You may include warranty and after sales services requirements If needed, you may indicate the requested user manual language Depending on the equipment you may want to indicate the type of software required If any of sauce accessories are needed and whether you have any compatibility requirements For example, if you have a technical specifications with multiple items You might say item one should be compatible with item three So that what you get is actually something you can operate at the best If required you may want to add the tail the packaging requirements And you also may include the installation and training request like okay. I need the The manufacturer the vendor to install the equipment for me And I need also to be trained on its used and then received after is after sale services Or I just need of the installation and then I deal with it myself Because I already know the equipment examples of quality control criteria These are taken from the technical specifications Provided by by the laboratories that are competing for that competed for equipment last year For example, they talk about correlation coefficients certifications different types of certifications well the most used quality control criteria is that Basically the vendor should comply with the specifications and And then also we talk about calibration certificate for example 1600 says to these degrees at 20 And there so you see like it you you can write basically anything you you need to assess the the quality of of the the offer Usually another document to prepare is the delivery plan in these documents. You can resume your request so you can organize basically, it's an extract from the technical specifications in which you specify the item and The quantity of each item per lot. It depends on how many lots you have in this case We had for example 21 lots one lot per country and laboratory Then you have to specify the destination of the lot So you have to put the name of the laboratory the address of the laboratory and the country and Specify the maximum period of time accepted for the delivery of equipment for example four weeks after that the vendor is informed that that He actually or they actually won the bid You have to pay attention in this case because you have it's not only up to the vendor to send you the equipment It's like it's not it does not only depend of them. It also depends on customs procedures So you should consider the time needed to prepare the documents for the customs and apply for the permit to import actually the equipment in this in this in this regard Once you have the technical specification ready all documents ready you have to place The order. Okay. We have in general. We have three options the first options is the easiest one if the the internal procedure of your institutes allow for it and Is that basically you already know what to buy and from who so you just go to the manufacturer and say I want two pieces of this specific model of equipment The second option is that you launch a closed bid closed bid means that you already know What manufacturers or what vendors to approach because you trust them? You know that they will not give you bad equipment So you invite them only to participate in the bid So these these is usually done to ensure the good quality of the offer received so that the Evaluation of the offer is easier. For example, you can evaluate the offers only based on the cheapest price The third option is to have an open bid So everybody can participate in it but in if you go for this option you have to pay attention and you have to have an extremely well-prepared procurement with all criteria to assess the offers well defined because you take the risk to purchase crap honestly speaking so Whatever these these option Gives you the opportunity to receive more offers and eventually to get a better deal Okay, but you need to be well prepared. So going back to the Results of the survey you answer to This is what the majority Of respondents are doing so we asked them how does your procurement work and 36% of respondents said that they contact the vendor they trust in Directly, so if this is option one the easiest one Again, 36% say that They do an open bid So case three any vendor can participate in the bid and the rest it's a bit of a mix But so how to evaluate the offer? Again going looking at the results of the survey on what basis do you decide what vendor to rely on? The majority of respondents said that they look for a compromise between the price and the quality of the equipment or the consumables And still we have the majority like a good piece of the cake. So 20 almost 25% They say that they go for the best quality equipment consumable And the rest say I go for the cheaper offers or some consumables have been traditionally purchased from Certain vendors so I go to them for for such Do you have any evaluation criteria to evaluate the offers you receive from vendors? For example, if the vendors offer any warranty training and in-person or remote support The majority 85% said yes, which is very good Here I reported some of the valuation criteria you mentioned You reported in the survey for example the check with vendor where the equipment has been supplied before and Guarantee the availability of the product at time reliability of the acquisition process quality of the technical support of the vendor There needs to be a good technical back stopping the payment on on delivery You you need the when you place When you open a bid you need to know The terms of the payments What is acceptable for you and also to make sure that you don't get cheated so that eventually you pay before and you get Not get nothing back or you get it in three years Dependability of the vendor and again the main criteria is the technical specification and then the price So quality first and then we look at the price Warranty training and in-person remote support compliance To supply of required documents technical specification and cost evaluations the reliability of the manufacturers and the vendors Credibility that you need to trust the supplier Availability of certificate of analysis price cost of analysis warranty period You see it's all a long list that you provided and it's all really true Let's try to organize a bit of this information So offers in general can be assessed in two ways either you go for the cheaper offer The cheapest offer or you go for the cheapest offer the better meets your request So in terms of preparing the bid these two points are very different In the first case, so you if you go for the cheapest offer You simply assess the offer against the price In the second case. Yes, you assess the offer Also, you assess the offer against mandatory requirements and evaluation Criteria so quality first the price comes later and you can still go for the cheapest one But that meets your your quality criteria okay Examples of mandatory requirements so you need to know who you are buying from The vendor should be eligible For example should be a legally register entity Should not be suspended The barred nor otherwise identified as ineligible There should not be any conflict of interest and That's not to declare bankruptcy Then the vendor should be qualified For example should prove they did not have a contractor default So basically they did not perform of a contract For at least and you define how many years So you should the vendor should prove that they Deliver or actually comply with all contracts. They sign in the last for example three years Still the vendor should prove to have at least again, you define how many years of experience and at least You define how many years of experience in the procurement of similar offers You should look at the complexity of your bid for example for the procurement of gloss on equipment We will procure equipment to 21 countries 21 laboratories this bid is extremely complicated. We have to make sure that whoever win the beat Is able to comply and provide us the equipment? Okay, and then must demonstrate the soundness of its financial standing This is the first step to assess an offer if a vendor does not comply with your mandatory requirements You should exclude it from the bid Okay as a general rule Examples of evaluation criteria, so make sure to buy what most aligns to your expectations This is still an example related to the third case Well actually to this case here if you go to the chip to the cheaper Offer that better meets your request, but also if we look at an open bid Okay, so in which everybody can compete so These are examples of evaluation criteria you you you have technical and financial evaluation criteria So the rated technical criteria With the you can assign the total weight you want for example 30 or 20 percent of the total Okay, this is how much the technical components will weight In the final assessment of the offers and then you assess criteria for example installation Installation required in the technical specification But not provided by the bidder these And to this you would assign a point for example in this case is zero or the installation is required in the technical specifications and it's provided by the bidder 10 points and Ultimately you have the rating The best would be that you get to 100 so it's easier to make the calculations, but if you are below 100 you should make You should in this case make a calculation to ensure that then there is a correspondent with the total weight and Then the second component so we saw the technical criteria You can also have financial criteria again. You should get to 100 Which means that if you gave 20 percent you you rate you gave a total weight of 20 percent to the technical Criteria then you will have 80 percent in the financial criteria Or as we did as we are showing in the example If you are 30 percent in the technical then you you have 70 percent in the financial Criteria Sorry, I thought there was an animation Again, we talk about criteria So for example, you can give 100 points to the lowest financial offer, but you'll also you should also Think about how you want to define how many points to assign to the other offers That are not the cheapest one. Okay, and again, you have the rating or weighting At this point, you should know what offer to accept so you should inform all vendors either the one or lost the the Beat and then start preparing the documents with the vendor that you will rely on so the ones that win the beat So this was the end of my presentation, I Hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. Is there any question? There are some questions from Portugal Elements was wondering about the percentage of private and public clubs Which can be involved in the in the problem. I mean, is there any correlation between size and the way performance is made? And the type of laboratory needs private to public Okay, so Yes, I'm reading it starting at 1132. All right, that's the first question. Yes Okay, so I would like to know Of the labs who responded. What is the percentage of public labs and Who answered and that the percentage of private labs who answered I actually don't know we should check we can report this information in In the report and do you have any breakdown on the size of the laboratories? For example, I know this we don't have Is there a correlation between size and the way procurement is made? We don't have this information. We can extrapolate from other Well, we can cross check data from also other surveys that we we launched but at the moment I don't know. I don't have this information Then again, do you do any follow-up after the equipment has been purchased? For example after two years will you go and see if the equipment was used in the way It should have been and was not together in dust in the corner after one year Yeah, this refers to monitoring and We are thinking about a monitoring system for the equipment. We are purchasing well already through the assessment We aim to ensure that we don't get Equipment to any laboratory that they cannot operate or that they don't use really Because we also ask about the number of samples that they analyze each year so what type of analysis you do and how many samples you You analyze with these analysis every year. So for example, if you ask me for an equipment to do I don't know nitrogen analysis, but then he turns up that you You analyze for you do this type of analysis on 50 or 100 samples per year I would not make the investment The investment should should be justified Is there any other question If it just is important to I think the first question from From Alan was also regarding like if the size of the lab is taken into account For the legibility of the of the lab. I think no does the only the only main factor is the PT results Yeah, well a PT results as I said like let me go back to So we just to stress the attention on this point So everybody know like just so people knows if they even if they have a small lab if they can Attend the procurement or not Let me do this. Give me a second. I want to show you something So basically this is the assessment. We ask Laboratories to complete the ones that have good results in PT. Okay in the proficiency test So We ask them well first to tell us who they are so general information Then the laboratory facilities In in the case of gloss on because we are supporting so many laboratories at the same time So for example this year, it's 21. We could not really help with Facilities in order for FAO to help With with the building so with the facilities it requires a different procedure that it's quite Complicated and require working a lot with the local offices And this was too complicated to follow up for the large number of labs. We were intended to support So we didn't look at Supporting labs in terms of improving laboratory facilities this year Then if you go to the part on the analysis You see that we are asking Can you tell us the type of analysis that you conduct in your laboratory and the average number of soil samples? You are newly analyzed for so for example here. They cross that they do Chemical analysis here. They write that they do OC by Walkley and black for example and that for these analysis they do 2,000 analysis per year This is of great value for us if this would be 20 or 200 It's already a bit low But we cannot really well, of course, maybe 200 for an extremely small lab with maybe one or two Technicians it's a lot. So there is an influence also in this we try to make a consistent analysis not in the type of laboratory and and its capacities compared to the request they are making so Yeah, the size of the lab Influences a bit our decisions, but we take it into consideration For example, there are maybe small labs in a country only that still serve the whole country So how can we exclude them or penalize them for this? Maybe they are the only lab doing the analysis in the country Then we ask them for the equipment. So again here we have information on the analysis and Here they ask us. Let's let's put here. Maybe. Okay. Let's keep it 200. Let's say that he's a Small lab, okay, but serving The whole country Or large part of the country we have all these information We have a big database in which we register all the information We are collecting through the surveys that we are sending around so that we don't have to ask you to To tell us again the same information over and over again So and here you would tell me, okay, I need the off equipment to do wall clean black Okay, great. It's justified. So we will help you with this Well here you should specify the type of equipment actually which I I'm not able to do and Then here we ask them if If gloss around provides you with the new equipment Will your laboratory be able to find it some going operation and maintenance? So you can say yes for any type of equipment or it will be difficult But possible in depends on the type of equipment because in most of the cases Lapset as a long list of equipment and then we have to pick the pieces doing all these Analysis that I just told you about So in case we usually try to go for equipment that they are able to operate and maintain But if it's difficult We will really strengthen this point in the technical specification So for example, we will ask the vendor to provide the regular training to do the installations and offer remote support and also we put a lot of after-sales services and Then one thing that is very important for us is that gloss on you know is not aimed to help That's a any specific labs. We will help all labs But the initiative is aiming to to have a national Regional and global impact. So we need to make sure also that the laboratory we are helping is able to downscale Activities and to support other labs to become eventually like a rich a national hub No a national hub for training and and support laboratories in needs So this is very important for us And in case we can we can help the winner of the Well, I don't want to say the winner of the competition for equipment this year But this laboratory is actually our national reference laboratories Most of them are national reference laboratories. So they already have a role in downscaling and implementing gloss alone activities So they are supposed to say yes to these or yes But we have problem to do it and then we will have them Really playing their role also through the establishment of the national cell laboratory networks. I hope these Answer the question Is there any other question? if not We are a bit Ahead on the program So I would like to ask Our trainers on Equipment installation use and maintenance. So I ask Leonardo in this case if You would like to start your training now or if you would like to postpone it to after lunch Or eventually to extend it so you have one hour more to give the training Leonardo, let me see I See you I see you as one of the Participants, but we cannot hear you Leonardo or any other colleagues from bookie. Okay, so we do this training this afternoon Yeah, I cannot find anyone Hello Sorry, I was away for a little bit Yeah, so we are a bit Ahead with them with agenda meaning that we are finished the morning session now I would like to ask you if you would like to extend your training by one hour So maybe start now and then run it for three hours or if you would like to have it only this afternoon All you can start and we finish earlier this afternoon No, I think that we have planned already for two hours training maximum Well, I think that it would be better I mean for us it would be more convenient if we stick to the plan schedule But if it is definitely required that we start now, then we can also do that But from our side, I think that we would prefer to To stick to the 2 p.m. Schedule is that okay for me, it's okay Okay, great So, let me ask any of the participants if they they would like to add something to the part on procurement Or if they would like to make a statement on their experience In terms of procurement There's also a question from Joseph in the chat from the audience They is in their part. I don't understand this question Joseph. Can you please reformulate? You mean like if they have a role in Helping us with the procurement or I don't know Yeah I'm talking of like in assistance with training and even with procurement because some of them have Some easy access to procurement and facilities for training Mm-hmm. Well, you can definitely help in the case of Icraf while they're based in Kenya They're not the national reference laboratory But they can work with the national reference laboratory definitely at the end We aim to push for cooperation so that all labs are based in the same country can help each other And so who can offer training? It's welcome to offer training also assistance in writing the technical specification I think there is a great need for experience institutions on these to train and help Laboratories in needs. So yes, I my suggestion is that You would better define your role at the national level with your national reference Laboratory but also with your nation also laboratory network that we're establishing now at the regional level because we are talking about What you mentioned are big organizations That have a role in the region. I can help you with that So we if you are available to offer support to countries and to other countries and laboratories in the region We can talk and I think they would welcome your support very much Thank you Thanks to you and then to our offering support Yes, I would like to thank you Lucrezia for your hard work when looking at these data Indeed the procurement of equipment. Sorry. It's a very complicated procedure at least in Slovenia. So If I'm talking for our institute, we usually hire the Some other Forum to to do all the procedures that are needed. I would like to say that it's also very important that you do some Market search before you prepare this technical specification so that you really know what you need we had in the Five years ago. We were buying a new Kilda equipment and at the end. We knew there were only two possible Vendors to offer it and there was the end only one who was Suitable because otherwise we would have to change all the Kilda Tubes, which we all know that are very expensive, but at the end it turns out that this vendor Changed the site of production to China and we had Problems with the equipment at the end we got 50% Scouts a scout, but it was still a problem one of the problems is also service engineers You have to have service engineer in your country and available and the trained one Because if you don't have it you your equipment is not working for two three weeks one month And it can be also very expensive if you have to hire service engineer from abroad Thank you very much for sharing your your experience Spela indeed the doing a market research beforehand It's it's pivotal to this type of work And I think this was also mentioned in the presentation of of lezago and again, I would like to Show you once more. This is our website You have a and in the drop-down menu here on the side you have a voice on equipment and In here you can download these good practices that were prepared By the leaders in all regions so by the chairs Mostly and experts on these in from all regions. You have it available in all these languages So please consult it because in here you really have like a distinctions of Good practice and bad practice in case of what acting before well to do before purchasing Or accepting a donation because this is very relevant. Also, if you accept a donation Then to place your order or request for donations And then what to do when you receive your purchase or Donation you can consult this document everything is available online for free Another thing that I would like to inform you about that I forgot in the presentation is that currently I'm working with the Procurement unit at FAO to well to do the procurement because it's really time consuming We still have to launch the bit so to open the bit because the preparation of the document is Well, it's very it's very tough and intense and also in this regard I would like to remind you these applies to all gloss on activities because sometimes we are late But we are late also because maybe We received the late submissions from countries. So every time a country is late in sending us an input or Sending us information in this case for the equipment or they're sending us incomplete information I have to get back to them. This is not to delaying The work only for that country, but these delaying the wall work so please be timely in In providing inputs also because remember gloss on is works on a volunteering base We have volunteers. We have working groups and leaders that are working for us for free and It happened many times Unfortunately that the experts the working group or ourselves still start to do a work and Then once we are done, we receive like 20 inputs more and we have to redo it again So it's a bit annoying, but it's especially time-consuming. I mean like for our stuff as gloss on team Meaning like me and Filippo. Okay, we can bear with it But when we look at the contribution that experts give us on a voluntary basis like I don't know like I Look at you sped up because you are just on my screen you know, you are the vice chair of Of a Rosalind and you are also working a lot in in the working groups of for the development of the SOPs So she also has their work beside that the one she's doing for gloss on and you know I feel embarrassed when I ask her like, please. Can you redo these because we receive like five inputs more? So please remember this. I was telling you I'm working with them Procurement unit at FAO to write a short booklet on a procurement like guidelines on a procurement a bit more specific that and comp that include all the things I mentioned in my Presentations and that would accompany these other document that I'm showing you on screen Okay Is there anyone else that would like to Joseph? Yes Joseph. Yeah, hello Just one quick addition something that we found very helpful especially with Many of the national labs that use a laboratory equipment far beyond the expected lifespan of the equipment is to make sure that in the course of procurement they identified some of the weak links With the equipment the most likely parts that can be damaged in the equipment in the course of the lifespan of this Equipment and try to make some purchases well ahead of time of such space Because by the time they may need those space They may have changed the model of equipment and the type of space that are needed for the particular brand that they have may be out of stock This has helped some of the national labs to be able to prolong the life of some of their Equipment and it should be something to be taken into consideration when they are Procuring the equipment right from the very start Thank you Thank you. Thank you very much anyone else that would like to add to the Discussion from Milan asking about the war the the warranty Are there any rules concerning the insurance of equipment after the warranty period tense? well, what we are asking in in our Procurement for some types of equipment so the one that is most valuable It's a kind of extension of the warranty for usually a couple of years not all Vendors offer this but but we we try to get it But I would say that there is Not any rules. I Can ask the procurement unit better for this information Again a remark from spell on spare parts are really important It is a good practice to buy them before the vendor cannot guarantee them anymore Yeah, this I think this is very Valuable a valuable remark because it can be that the the piece like that one of the spare parts of your equipment breaks after Well, maybe after quite some years and maybe that equipment is not in production anymore Right spell. This is also what you are referring to so in that case you have eventually to trash the whole equipment to replace it all Okay, anyone else if not, we end the morning session here a bit before the foreseeing time and We see you again at two so in one hour 45 minutes long lunch today Okay, so thank you very much as better Lizzie go for your presentation and Bella and Joseph and all other Other participants that share their experience and then ask question and comment it to the presentations So, thank you so much. We see you again at 2 p.m. Have a good lunch