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PPC slams tender boards for hiding procurement minutes
— calls for legislation to force transparency
(Kaieteur News) – The Public Procurement Commission (PPC), in its latest 2024–2025 Annual Report, has issued a strong rebuke to Regional, Ministerial, Departmental, and Agency Tender Boards for consistently failing to publish minutes of tender openings, a basic transparency requirement that has now become a chronic national problem.
The Commission warned that the continued absence of publicly accessible tender minutes severely undermines oversight of Guyana’s procurement system. According to the report, which covers the period July 7, 2024 to March 31, 2025, the PPC’s efforts to monitor the work of tender boards have again been stalled by entities simply refusing to provide records. This newspaper understands that the timely publication of tender minutes is essential for ensuring accountability, deterring corruption, and maintaining confidence in the multi-billion-dollar procurement process.
The Public Procurement Commission 2024/2025 Report.
Speaking on the observation made on the Regional Tender Board (RTB), the Commission stated that as was done during the previous year of operation, it requested that the Regional Tender Boards submit their minutes of tender openings. “This was met with marginal acquiesce,” the Commission reported. Similar to RTBs, PPC stated that as reported in its last Annual Report also, one of the recurring challenges to conducting effective monitoring of Ministerial, Departmental, and Agency Tender Boards tender openings has been the unavailability of minutes of tender opening sessions.
“Unlike tenders opened by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), minutes for tenders opened by Regional, Ministerial, Departmental, and Agency Tender Boards are not published,” the Commission highlighted.
To address this deficiency, the Commission said it previously issued formal requests for the submission of such minutes. “However, as was the case in the preceding reporting year, this request continues to be met with limited adherence. Notably, no further submissions have been received within the current interim reporting period. Consequently, the data remains unchanged from the last reporting cycle,” it explained.
Further, in its recommendation on its findings, PPC recommended that there should be, “Legislative intervention compelling the publication of tender opening minutes and or the submission thereof to the Commission.”
Ensuring transparency also, the Procurement Commission called on Regional Tender Boards to implement live-streaming technology. During the reporting period they observed this was done only by the Regional Democratic Council of Region Nine, which was commendable. “This practice, of live streaming the opening of tenders, significantly enhances public transparency and promotes real-time access for stakeholders unable to be physically present. This initiative is aligned with modern best practices in public procurement oversight and should be emulated by other procuring entities nationwide,” the Procurement watchdog explained. The Commission strongly encourages the replication of such digital innovations to strengthen accountability and bolster public confidence in the procurement system,” it noted in the report.
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