Wednesday
June 18, 2003
Procurement
Bill gives legislative support to Government's efforts to
enhance transparency – Minister Kowlessar
Georgetown, GINA, June 18, 2003
The Procurement Bill 2003 gives legislative
support to the many efforts made by the Administration over
the years to enhance the procurement process in Guyana.
In an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA)
Minister of Finance Saisnarine Kowlessar said the document
is a comprehensive one that provides comfort for contractors
and suppliers because it sets out the ground rules for procurement
and provides for independent reviews.
“This Bill is testimony to the PPP/C Government’s
commitment to transparency and accountability as it has promised
in its manifesto. The PPP/C has a proud record of achievement
in terms of transparency,” he said.
According to the Minister, “this Bill is a very
advanced Bill in terms of providing the opportunities for
transparency, competition, for the integrity of the procurement
process and for participation of the contractors and suppliers.
It is the most comprehensive procurement legislation in the
Caribbean. I would say that this Bill should go forward and
the Opposition should support it a s a positive measure in
terms of enhancing the whole process of procurement.”
Guyana has come a far way in the procurement arena and has
even won the respect of international agencies and organizations.
When this Administration took Office there was no history
of public procurement, as most of it was done through single
sourcing and not in a transparent manner as done today. There
were no advertisements for tenders placed in the newspapers
and the Engineer’s estimates were not made public.
“Today we have a large body of contractors that bid
for contracts because the procurement process facilitates
competition and by competition we have been able to bring
down the costs of projects. This bill enshrines what has been
taking place. It gives legislative effect to what the Government
has done since 1992 in terms of public procurement. It is
now a much more regulated system,” the Minister said.
Noteworthy also is the role the Auditor General now plays
in the procurement process.
The Auditor General did not have a role to play in public
procurement because he was not allowed to audit the public
accounts of the country. Today he has a role to play in the
procurement process.
Also over the last decade tenders for the disposal of public
assets are being advertised and all 65 of the Neighbourhood
Democratic Councils for the first time, are now fully engaged
in public procurement, which was not so in the past
The Procurement Bill 2003 was presented for its first reading
in the National Assembly in June 2003,and is essentially a
revised version of the Bill enacted in 2002. The Parliamentary
Opposition, and the Builders Group and other stakeholders,
raised concerns about certain clauses of the Bill both at
the technical and policy levels. Consequently, consultations
with these groups began.
Consensus has been reached on the Procurement Bill 2003 via
the consultation process hosted by the Ministry of Finance
with the Parliamentary Parties, the Builders Group and the
Guyana Association of Professional Engineers (GAPE).
In an interview with GINA Ministry of Finance officials, who
participated in the Consultations, opined that the consultations
were successfully conducted.
These officials said that many of the contentious issues were
amicably explained. The Builders Group comprised the Association
of Consultative Engineering Services, Guyana Association of
Professional Engineers, Quantity Surveyors Group, Institute
of Architecture and the Contractors Association. Representing
the Parliamentary Parties were People's National Congress
Reform Member James McAllister, Manzoor Nadir of the United
Force and Sheila Holder of the GAP/WPA. Although invited,
notably absent from the consultation was Leader of ROAR Ravi
Dev. The Ministry of Legal Affairs draftsman was present at
all the sessions.
The Parliamentary Parties' concern was based on their interpretation
of both the technical and policy aspects of the 2003 Bill.
"At the technical level we have been able to explain
to both the Opposition and the Builders Group that what they
were trying to look for in the Bill are some things that are
better contained in Regulations. That was a major dialogue
we had on how certain clauses of the Bill would be implemented.
Because it is an Act, you cannot describe the implementation
mechanisms there," one official said.
According to the said official, the Regulations will naturally
follow the Bill, but details of these have not yet been worked
out. He anticipates the introduction of the Regulations by
the end of the year.
"In a sense it is not changes as such, but explanatory
or subsidiary legislation that has to follow in order to operationalize
the Bill in many areas. And in the consultation we agreed
on that. We reached consensus on that position," he added.
A major concern was about the policy issue of the Bill. According
to one of the officials Balgobin, the consultations narrowed
substantially the main area of difference. That policy issue
relates to the composition of the Public Procurement Board.
The 2003 Bill states that the Board will comprise of seven
members -five public sector representatives and two from the
private sector. "This is still a matter that is referred
to the political level for some further discussions,"
he added.
The members of Public Procurement Board will be required to
declare their assets before the country's Integrity Commission
for transparency purposes. The Builders Group has expressed
concerns about this requirement, since two persons from the
Group will be sitting on the Board. Their argument is that
since they do not have a fixed income because of the nature
of their work, they do not have fixed salaries and hence it
would be difficult for the Integrity Commission to monitor
their income and accumulation of assets versus their way of
life. The Ministry of Finance advised that this would be a
matter for dialogue with the Integrity Commission. This group
is also calling for a 4-3 representation on the Board instead
of the 5-2 as proposed in the new Law.
The Head of the Project Cycle Division said that the consultations
to solve the technical issues have been concluded and it is
now up to the political players to resolve the outstanding
policy issue. "At the Administrative level we believe
that we have been able to assure all parties that a number
of their technical concerns could be and are better addressed
in regulations," he said. In the Joint Communiqué
signed by President Jagdeo and the Leader of the PNCR Robert
Corbin on May 6, it was agreed that the Procurement Act 2002,
will be amended shortly.
"The amended Procurement Bill fits in with the commitment
by Government to move ahead with Procurement legislation.
It is part of the Communiqué," he said.
Simultaneous to the introducing of the Procurement Bill is
the effort to establish a Public Procurement Commission comprising
members of the two major political parties, as nominated by
the Public Accounts Committee and approved by Parliament and
then appointed by the President.
"We see both actions that we are taking as fulfilling
the communiqué," the official said.
Another contention raised by the Opposition about the procurement
in Guyana, is the authority of the Cabinet to award contracts.
The Official explained that a contract in excess of $15M has
to get Cabinet's ‘no objection’ before it is awarded.
"There is a very important distinction here. Cabinet
will in no way determine who is awarded the project. Cabinet's
purpose now is to ensure that the procedures leading to the
award of that contract is in place. It will only be looking
at it from the issue of procedures," he explained. The
Procurement Bill 2003 will be debated on Thursday.
"We expect a fruitful debate and Members of the Opposition
will have the opportunity to go through the Bill and whatever
areas there are difficulties in, we can try and reach consensus.
However, issues that are not dealt with in Law by this Bill
can be dealt with by regulations. So in no way we should try
to hold back this or keep this process or put a stop to it
and wait on the regulations. We feel that we can go ahead
with this Procurement Bill and certainly work with the Opposition
to have the regulations in place," he said.
Guyana's decision to reform its procurement sector stemmed
from changes worldwide. According to the Ministry of Finance
official, when the Financial Administration Audit Act was
amended, the old Central Tender Board regulations were kept.
Government found it necessary to have the country's Tender
Board Regulations reformed. The reformation began way back
with transparency as the main objective. Years ago, the President
and the Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon invited the Media
to attend the Tendering process.
The Procurement Bill 20003 stipulates that the Procurement
Board will not be voluntary but a paid Board with two full
time members and part-time members. The bidding document for
local, Regional and international contractors and suppliers
will now be a standardized document and will not vary in description
as it is now. The tender document will contain the criteria
to be used to select the lowest bid. It facilitates the establishment
of a pool of evaluators who will be trained and no less than
three will be selected to assess the tenders from that pool.
The new legislation would provide for appeals to be made.
In this regard, appeals can be submitted to the Procurement
Commission. It also provides a ‘margin of preference,’
which can be given to hinterland contractors in tendering
for contracts in their communities, by allowing the wavering
of National Insurance Scheme and Inland Revenue Department
compliances. It also provides for notices of procurement to
be placed at known public place, instead of the national newspapers
only, to facilitate all hinterland residents and contractors.
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