Procurement Commission must be in place before next budget cycle – President Granger

Jun 22, 2016 News

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By Kiana Wilburg
It has been more than a year under the APNU+AFC coalition’s leadership and the establishment

of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is yet to be realized. And while he has expressed some disappointment with regard to the slothfulness plaguing the process, President David Granger is optimistic that this “100-day” promise will be fulfilled.
In fact, the Head of State said while on the programme, “The Public Interest”, that the Commission must be in place before the next budget cycle.
Granger stated, “It (the establishment of the PPC and the process in the National Assembly) could have been quicker. We would have wanted this to be completed during the last calendar year. We are now approaching a new budget cycle starting on July 1, and I would not like to see the Commission not in place during the next budget cycle. We hope to have the budget by December 2016, and I feel that the Commission must be in place before we enter that new budget cycle.”
In the meantime, Government has approved the implementation of a Bid Protest Committee which will receive complaints of breaches in the state’s tendering process. The body had been one of the requirements laid out in the public procurement regulations.
Cabinet has received recommendations from Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, for the appointment of a Bid Protest Committee. A nominee of the Attorney General’s Chambers is expected to be the Chairperson. The other members are Archibald Clifton, a former senior manager of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) and Ewart Adams, an insurance official.
As for the work of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), there appears to be some amount of movement on the establishment of the Procurement Commission. This is according to PAC Chairman, Irfaan Ali. Ali expressed that the committee has received a number of nominations and the applications of those individuals are currently being reviewed by a subcommittee. The two-member sub-committee includes Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence and the PAC Chairman.
Ali is hopeful that a shortlist of persons who best qualify to hold the post of Commissioners can be produced by this month-end.
The PAC Chairman was unable to say just how many applications they have received and are perusing. The Public Accounts Committee, 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.
It was Ali who had set a March month-end date for the establishment of the crucial commission, only to backtrack and blame inadequate nominations from the public as a cause for further delays.
The award of contracts in Guyana by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (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.
Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran, who had spoken extensively on the matter, said that the weak systems of the NPTAB need to be addressed by the new administration, as they cost the country approximately $28B annually.
He then pointed to credible allegations of corrupt behaviour in public procurement. These included sole sourcing of drug contracts, 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 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.
Goolsarran had 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, and the award of contracts based on the lowest evaluated bid as opposed to the lowest bid.
Failure to look at these, he opined, has also proven to be very costly to the country.

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