Tender Board to be more responsive, accountable and transparent – Finance Minister

Jul 22, 2015 News

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In an effort to make the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) more responsive while returning accountability and transparency to it, Finance Minister, Winston Jordan said that a number of reforms for the entity are underway.

During an interview with this newspaper, Jordan said that while he would prefer to not disclose at the moment what some of those reforms are, he assured that they will serve to strengthen the services provided by the agency.
The award of contracts in Guyana by the NPTAB has always been a matter of contention in several quarters. There have been accusations of favouritism along with other complaints of anti-competitive practices.
To fix this, the APNU+AFC Government has in its plans the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).  The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which according to procedure, is chaired by a member of the opposition, has to nominate the five members of the Procurement Commission. The National Assembly by two-thirds majority has to ratify their appointments. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is however, yet to take its seats in the House. As a result, the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission is stalled.
“There is only so much we can do. We can name our nominees for the Commission among other things, but in the meantime, the Tender Board is under reform. But I would not reveal too much because it is currently the subject of a forensic audit,” the Minister asserted.
Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, who had spoken extensively on the matter, recently said that, “With the political opposition not taking up their seats in the Assembly, it will take quite a while for the Public Accounts Committee to be constituted. In addition, the requirement of two-thirds majority is likely to pose a huge challenge in terms of agreement on the names of the five candidates. This is likely to further delay the activation of the Commission.”
He suggested that the next best alternative, therefore, is for the NPTAB to be reformed in such a manner that the public will place confidence in its work.
“Sadly, such confidence is to a large extent absent, considering that: (a) the Minister appoints the members of NPTAB; (b) the Chairman has a reporting relationship with the Minister who is a key member of the Cabinet that ratifies all contracts of $15 million and over; and (c) it is not publicly known when last the members were rotated in keeping with established norms,” Goolsarran added.
The Chartered Accountant said, however, that one consideration is for the NPTAB to be given greater autonomy and flexibility, free of ministerial involvement and influence, while at the same time, ensuring that the provisions of the Procurement Act are followed
He said that indeed, the Act provides for the NPTAB to execute the functions of the Procurement Commission until such time that the Commission is established. He said that the reforming of the NPTAB could therefore be such that, in addition to its own functions, its operations could mirror those of the Commission.
“Of course, this is a temporary measure until the Commission is established,” he added.
Goolsarran, had also contended that the weak systems of the NPTAB need to be addressed by the new administration as they cost the country approximately $28B annually. He had said that it is critical for the Ministry of Finance to review the operations of NPTAB given the fact that the agency has been cited by the Auditor General for numerous cases of financial discrepancies.
He had emphasized that about 70 percent of the national budget relates to public procurement and this translates to approximately $140 million.
The former Auditor General then pointed to credible allegations of corrupt behaviour in public procurement. These included sole sourcing of drug contracts to the New GPC, contract splitting, inflated engineer’s estimates, evaluation bias on behalf of favoured contractors, the use of inexperienced contractors, the absence of competitive bidding in some cases and overpayment to contractors.
Goolsarran had said that at least, some $28 billion or US$140M is lost annually by looking at those areas.  His estimation was garnered from an overview of the Auditor General’s reports on the country’s accounts over the past few years.
He had also highlighted some of the glaring shortcomings of the NPTAB, among them the absence of District Tender Boards for Neighbourhood Democratic Councils; the failure to publish in NPTAB’s website; the award of all contracts between $200,000 and $15 million; the failure of members of the various tender boards to file financial returns with the Integrity Commission; the non-establishment of a formal Bid Protest Committee and the failure to exercise due diligence in ensuring that evaluators had the requisite expertise.
He said, too, that there are certain parts of the Procurement Act which have not been adhered to since the Act came into effect on 1 January 2004. These include ensuring the criteria used for selection are such that they do not discriminate against particular contractors and suppliers; award of contracts based on the lowest evaluated bid as opposed to the lowest bid, taking into account previous experience, capacity, facilities and equipment, and other associated factors; communicating with unsuccessful bidders the basis of the award and why they were not selected; ensuring valid and adequate performance bonds are obtained as a guarantee for satisfactory completion of works and the supply of goods and services; and sanctioning contractors and suppliers for consistent failure to perform to expected standards.
Failing to look at these, he opined, have also proven to be very costly to the country.
Goolsarran said that the solution to the problems relating to the operations of the NPTAB is the activation of the Public Procurement Commission.
As a starting point, therefore, he said that the present members of the NPTAB need to be replaced with independent and professionally and technically competent persons.
“It is not publicly known when last the members of the NPTAB have been rotated, contrary to established practices,” the Chartered Accountant had said.

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