COMESA Competition Agency reopens Tender for Lilongwe HQ Complex

September 14, 2026 in Companies, Foreign News by Editor

The COMESA Competition and Consumer Commission has reopened prequalification for construction firms to build its planned Lilongwe headquarters, with submissions due by September 30, 2026.

 

LILONGWE — The COMESA Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC) has reopened the search for construction firms to build its planned office complex in Lilongwe, giving contractors across the region a fresh opportunity to compete for a project that has been in development for several years.

The Commission has re-advertised prequalification for construction firms for the office complex, with applications now due by September 30, 2026 at 10:00am Malawi time.

The re-advertisement, published by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on September 10, marks a renewed procurement push for the headquarters project of the regional competition and consumer protection authority.

The project is being financed directly by the CCCC, rather than through a named external lender. The procurement documents identify the contract as the construction of the COMESA Competition Commission Office Complex and associated works.

The latest move is significant because the project is not new. CCCC began work on the development of the office project several years ago, including procurement of consultancy services for the design, construction and supervision of the building.

The contractor prequalification documents issued in December 2024 carried an application deadline of January 21, 2025. The decision to re-advertise therefore effectively resets the search for firms that will ultimately be invited to bid for the construction contract.

CCCC has not publicly stated in the re-advertisement why the procurement has been reopened. The notice itself does not indicate whether the earlier process failed to produce a satisfactory pool of contractors, whether the procurement was discontinued, or whether changes to the project or procurement requirements prompted the restart.

That distinction will matter to contractors and other stakeholders because the new process comes with substantial qualification requirements.

The procurement framework requires firms to demonstrate at least 10 years of experience in the construction business, including experience in similar assignments. Applicants must also demonstrate experience in constructing at least three multi-storey buildings during the past five years and an average annual turnover of USD2.5 million over the five years from 2019.

Foreign construction companies will also be required to partner with a Malawian construction firm, with the local partner expected to account for at least 30 percent of the value of the works under Malawi’s construction industry requirements.

The requirements point to a procurement designed to attract established regional or international contractors while ensuring participation by Malawi’s domestic construction industry.

The planned complex itself is conceived as a five-storey development. Two floors are intended for CCCC staff, another will accommodate the COMESA Competition Training Law Centre, while two floors are planned for leasing to prospective tenants.

The Commission’s earlier project brief envisaged a 12-month construction period, although contractors may propose an alternative completion period based on the detailed scope eventually contained in the tender documents. The project site is in Lilongwe’s Area 20, around Capitol Hill, on Plots 20/15 and 20/16, covering approximately 1.023 hectares.

Established under the COMESA Competition Regulations, the Commission began operations in January 2013 and has responsibility for enforcing regional competition rules, including investigating anti-competitive business practices, reviewing mergers and acquisitions and addressing consumer protection concerns across the Common Market.

Its permanent headquarters would consequently represent an institutional investment in one of COMESA’s specialised regulatory bodies as the regional market grows and becomes increasingly integrated.

The procurement also carries an interesting institutional dimension in which the agency responsible for enforcing competition rules in the COMESA market, is itself seeking to run a competitive international procurement process for a major piece of regional infrastructure.

The latest prequalification puts the emphasis back on execution. Interested firms must now demonstrate not only technical construction capacity but financial strength, relevant experience, equipment and qualified personnel before they can proceed to the bidding stage. The procurement rules also provide for scrutiny of historical contract performance, financial capacity and experience in comparable construction works.

The process is open to eligible international applicants, although foreign firms must comply with Malawi’s local-participation requirements. The procurement documents also allow joint ventures, consortiums and associations, with participating partners generally carrying joint responsibility for the application and eventual contract. The September deadline now gives the Commission an opportunity to rebuild the contractor pool and move the long-planned headquarters project towards actual construction.