Way paved for Bid Protest Committee to start work

Jul 05, 2016 News

Minister Joseph Harmon

Government has published the names of members of its Bids Protest Committee, paving the way for the body to be formally established now.
According to the Official Gazette of June 16, the Chairperson will be a nominee from the Attorney General’s Chambers.
The other members are Archibald Clifton, a former senior manager of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT); Ewart Adams, an insurance official; and Colin Sawh, a security company official.
On June 17, Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary, Joseph Harmon, disclosed that approval has been granted for the special body to be established to hear complaints from aggrieved bidders and other stakeholders.
The three-man body had been one of the requirements laid out in the public procurement regulations, explained Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.
The approval for a Bid Protest Committee will come at a time when there have been delays for more than a decade and a half now for the establishment of, and appointment of members to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), which is in limbo.
There have been growing complaints of wrongdoings in the awards of contracts with little recourse for aggrieved bidders.
According to Minister Harmon, there have been concerns about the transparency of public contracts in the face of the delayed Public Procurement Commission.
The Bid Protest Committee has come out of recommendations from Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan.
“This Bid Protest Committee is one of the requirements laid out in the regulations for public procurement,” Harmon had told reporters.
He said that the protest committee will deal with “alleged breaches of the Public Procurement Act by procuring entities”.
Meanwhile, the PPC, when established, will monitor how state agencies, ministries and regional councils procure goods and services and ensure that the processes are conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
The PPC was supposed to investigate complaints and irregularities and initiate investigations.
The five-member PPC was supposed to be nominated by the Public Accounts Committee and supported by two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly.
A March deadline had been announced by Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, Irfaan Ali, for the establishment of Public Procurement Commission.
During his budget presentation earlier this year, Finance Minister Winston Jordan, said that the Government is seeking to fast-track the process for establishing the Public Procurement Commission, which will be pro-active in enacting a Code of Conduct for Ministers of Government and Parliamentarians.

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