Procuring agencies fail to report contracts awarded in excess of $1.5M to Tender Board –Sharma

Oct 27, 2018 News

It is a requirement under the nation’s procurement laws that every procuring entity must provide
a report to the Administration of all contracts awarded in excess of $1.5M.
But Auditor General, Deodat Sharma,has found that procuring entities were not honouring this part of the regulations.
Sharma also noted that this had had a domino effect, since National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) is legally required to publish a compilation of all those contracts in excess of $1.5M on its website. It is unable to do this if the relevant information is not made available to it.
In response to this issue of noncompliance, the Finance Ministry explained that NPTAB has issued a reminder circular and has proposed scheduled visits to Agencies with a view to ensuring that steps are taken to comply with the nation’s laws.
The Ministry said that there has not been a marked increase in reporting to the NPTA of all contracts exceeding $1.5M, following the issuance of the reminder circular, but the National Procurement and Tender Administration continues to publish on its website, contracts exceeding $1.5M for which it has issued approval letters.
To date, the Ministry said that the National Procurement and Tender Administration has posted information on contracts, in excess of 1,200, on its website, as a result of this initiative.
The Ministry said too that scheduled visits to procuring entities, aimed at, among other things, making them comply with the reporting requirements of the Procurement Act, commenced in January, 2018 and is expected to cover most procuring entities before the fourth quarter of this year.
The Finance Ministry said that this approach is expected to yield greater results regarding the publication of contract award information on the NPTA’s website.
In addition, the Ministry noted that the said website will be upgraded in 2018 and this will result in considerable improvement regarding the uploading of contract information, which has been affected by deficiencies in the current system.
The Audit Office subsequently recommended that NPTAB continues its efforts to have all agencies adhere to the Procurement Act.

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