Latest update January 1st, 2025 1:00 AM
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Procurement Amendment gives small businesses preferential treatment for certain projects… NPTAB to keep register of bidders
Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, while presenting the second reading of the Procurement (Amendment) Bill, has advocated for preferential
The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board
treatment to be given to small businesses (as defined in the Small Business Act) for certain procurements.
That is a provision of clause 2 of the amendment, which inserts a new Section (3A) into part II of the Procurement Act, entitled “General Provisions”. The clause states “Procuring entities shall only procure from small businesses approved under the Small Business Act, goods, works and services, as specified by regulations made by the Minister with the advice of the Public Procurement Commission or the National Board”.
Additionally, the new amendment added a new Section (4A) to provide for a register of bidders. The clause gives the Finance Minister the power to make regulations with respect to, among other things, the duties and functions of the Registry.
The clause states that the registry is “appropriate to enable a procuring entity to identify suppliers and contractors that are suitable to participate in any of that procuring entity’s procurement proceedings”. In that regard, all suppliers or contractors will now have to apply to be part of that register at least seven days before it intends to participate in procurement proceedings.
Further, the amendment has inserted a new Section (11A) into the Principal Act, which now mandates every procuring entity to submit its procurement plans to the Public Procurement Commission for the fiscal year covered in the National Budget, in accordance with its allotment.
Lastly, in Section 26 of the Act, “or” is inserted at the end of paragraph (a) in subsection 2. It is meant to provide clarity about the two terms required conduct restrictive tendering.
The first term would apply if the highly complex or specialised nature of the goods, construction or services, are available only from a limited list of suppliers. The second one would apply if the estimated cost of the contract is below the threshold set forth in the regulations. The insertion of “or” provides for the legislation to dictate that a procuring entity may engage in restrictive tendering under just one of those two conditions; that both are not necessary to conduct restrictive tendering.
After Jordan explained the implications of the amendment, as per his request, the Bill was read a third time and passed by the National Assembly.
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