Invitation for Bids – Systems Upgrade of the National Switch (Natswitch) in Malawi

Invitation For Bids.

International Competitive Bidding 

Goods and Services

1. The Government of Malawi has received financing from the African Development Bank, hereinafter called “the Bank” toward the cost of the Support for Digitalization, Financial Inclusion and Competitiveness Project (DFIC) and intends to apply part of the proceeds toward payments under the contract for the Systems upgrade of the National Switch in Malawi. For this contract, the Borrower shall process the payments using the direct payment disbursement method, as defined in the Bank’s Disbursement Guideline and Procedures for Investment Project Financing.
2. The Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralization through DFIC Project now invites sealed Bids from eligible Bidders for the Systems upgrade of the National Switch in Malawi. The systems’ upgrades will enhance NatSwitch’s functionalities so that it provides backbone to National and International Payment systems such as Visa, MasterCard and Europay as well as regional payment systems. The upgrades will require hardware and associated software, capacity building and project management for a specified duration and will be expected to be delivered within a period of 90 calendar days from the date of signing the contract.The project site is Blantyre, Malawi.

3. Bidding will be conducted through the Open Competitive Bidding (International), (OCBI) method as specified in the Bank’s Procurement Framework for Bank Group funded Operations dated October 2015 and is open to all eligible bidders as defined in the Procurement Framework.
4. Interested eligible Bidders may obtain further information from the Ministry of Finance Economic Planning and Decentralization through DFIC Project Specialist, Mahara Zgambo, who is reachable on dficproject@gmail.com during office hours (09:00hrs to 16:00 hours local time) at the address given in (6) below.
5. The bidding document in English may be purchased by interested eligible Bidders upon the submission of a written application to the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee of MWK10,000.00 or in any convertible currency.

  The method of payment will be:

The document will be sent to the applicant’s email address.

6. Bids must be delivered physically to the address below:

DFIC Project Implementation Unit, Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralization, Ground Floor, Room 4, NAO Annexe Building, P.O. Box 30049, Capital City, Lilongwe 3  by 29 June, 2026 before 10:00 hours local time. Electronic submissions will not be permitted and late Bids will be rejected. Bids will be publicly opened in the presence of the Bidders designated representatives and anyone who chooses to attend at the address below: DFIC Project Implementation Unit, Ministry of Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralization, Ground Floor, Room 4, NAO Annexe Building, Capital Hill, Lilongwe 3 on Monday 29^th June, 2026. 

7. All Bids must be accompanied by a Bid-Security of:

1. 1. Lot 2 – USD11,250
   2. Lot 3 – US$32,500.

8. In accordance with the Procurement Plan: “Attention is drawn to the Procurement Framework requiring the Borrower to disclose information on successful bidder’s beneficial ownership, as part of the Contract Award Notice, using the Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Form as included in the Bidding document”.

9. The address(es) referred to above is (are):

 Mr. Golden Nyasulu,
The Project Coordinator
DFIC Project,
Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralization,
Ground Floor, Room 4,
NAO Annexe Building, P.O. Box 30049, Capital City,
Lilongwe 3
+2651789355  

dficproject@gmail.com / dfic@finance.gov.mw  

www. ppda.mw
https://www.mfihub.co.mw

You may also download the file using: https://www.afdb.org/en/documents/ifb-malawi-upgrades-natswitch-system-dfic