The Finance Ministry’s ‘clinics’ with Regional Executive Officers and Permanent Secretaries about what needs to be done to accelerate the implementation of projects is showing signs of bearing fruit.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon on Monday said government is making progress in increasing the pace at which multi-million dollar infrastructural projects of the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) are being implemented. “Based on the overall assessment, there has been significant improvement in the performance of ministries, departments and regional organisations with respect to the spending and with respect to performance under the PSIP,” Harmon said.
He told the opening of a ‘Public Policy Analysis Management and Project Cycle Management training programme being conducted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), that that was the conclusion emerging from a meeting between Cabinet and Permanent Secretaries and Technical Officers held last month. That meeting reviewed spending in 2017 and discussions on 2018 work-plans.
In May 2017, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had said that the rate of PSIP implementation had declined to 20 percent at a time when the economy had been in need of a stimulus.
Harmon noted that when the APNU+AFC coalition came to power in May 2015, there had been issues of transparency, poor quality of work and slothful implementation which government had to address.
Director of the Finance Ministry’s Project Cycle Management Division, Tarachand Balgobin said last month he and his colleagues briefed Cabinet about the progress of the 2017 Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) and their 2018 strategy for enhanced timely implementation.
… more
Image: Pixabay (Pexels)
Read more
On February 2nd, bmobile signed a historical memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Information and Communication Technology Company Limited (iGovTT), the state enterprise responsible for the provision of ICT consulting and support services to Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Trinidad and Tobago. The landmark MoU will allow all 22 ministries, 119 state companies and 135 statutory bodies to use bmobile’s e-Tender platform to provide automated online procurement and project management solutions for all their contracts, setting a new benchmark for public sector procurement and unprecedented levels of accountability, transparency and inclusivity, where every local business can participate and benefit from the Public sector bidding process.
During an interview with Moonilal Lalchan, Chairman of the Office of Procurement Regulation, Afra Raymond, Immediate Past President of the Joint Consultative Committee and Keino Cox, bmobile’s Senior Manager Supply Chain on Power 102.1 FM on February 5th, Cox gave an overview of bmobile’s e-Tender system, the first digital procurement platform developed locally. “As part of the company’s digital transformation strategy, bmobile moved to an online procurement system in 2012 to provide an open, fair and transparent system that leveled the playing field by being inclusive to all sizes and ranges of companies.” Cox explained that e-Tender was a simplified process that cut costs for both bmobile and companies submitting bids. “It also provides real-time competitive tender postings, updates and queries.” The online platform, which was developed internally by bmobile staff, has allowed the company to expand its reach of vendors globally, with over 3,000 registered vendors from various countries.
bmobile’s e-Tender acts as a nexus between businesses and opportunities. The telecom operator has seen a 40% increase in the number of companies participating in its tenders. The increased visibility by being online, allowed a wider range in the size and type of businesses applying for Tenders. “Companies which previously would not have known about available tenders, were now aware through the automated email notifications of the e-Tender platform. The increase in the number of companies also led to higher quality, lower prices and more competitive bids, which in turn led to a significant cost reduction, including about 20% savings on just our routine purchases without having to negotiate for lower prices; an increase in productivity and efficiency along the whole value chain of the procurement process; and higher quality of products and services purchased by bmobile.” said Cox.
Cox indicated that bmobile had also developed an online tender evaluation platform so persons can participate in the online evaluation process from anywhere in the world and added, “We are proud to have developed a digital procurement platform that rivals the best in the world and pays for itself locally thus saving on FOREX. Countries as far as the UK, USA and Asia have reached out to us to explore our software. As the only full-service national communications service provider, bmobile is committed to supporting the growth of local business and the development of the national community by sharing the benefits we received via the roll out of e-Tender to the public sector.”
… more
Image: (achinverma, Pixabay)
Read more
THE Minnis administration’s public procurement reforms will “set aside” specific contracts for only small Bahamian businesses to bid on, the Deputy Prime Minister said yesterday.
Opening debate on the 2017-2018 mid-year Budget statement, K P Turnquest said the Government intends to introduce new legislation in the area of procurement and e-procurement.
“The focus of this more modern framework would be on enhancing the transparency of bidding procedures,” he added. “This legislation will be revolutionary in many respects. In large part it will discourage, in the most transparent of ways, the practice of simply handing out patronage to cronies away from the eyes of the taxpayers who are footing the bill.”
Mr Turnquest said that apart from much-needed transparency in the spending of taxpayers’ monies, the legislation “will also allow the Minister to set aside specific bids solely for small Bahamian businesses only to allow them to get an opportunity to bid on government jobs and get the chance to grow and flourish.
… more
Image: Kaique Rocha (Pexels)
Read more
Consider this scenario. You have going through the latest project listings you received by email from Project Calls, and there is at least one project opportunity that has piqued your interest. You review the requirements, but you are not sure whether to prepare and submit a response. Below we have collated a few pros and cons of responding to a tender or other project opportunity, which you ought to consider.
Pros
Generally, the benefits of responding to a tender are realised only if you win it.
1. The contract can be quite lucrative. Winning a contract can improve your cash flow considerably, and so allow you to be in a better position to manage your business. Generally, working as Consultant or Vendor can be a ‘feast or famine situation, where either there is a lot of money coming in, or none. Being in a position where you are getting paid, is (almost) always a good thing.
2. Winning one contract can position you to secure subsequent work. It is human nature for people to prefer working with people with which they are comfortable. Hence if the client is pleased with the work you did on the first assignment, it will be more inclined to invite you to work on other projects – and those projects may not even need to go out to tender. In having that experience of working with you, and being happy with the outcome, there can be some justification made for handpicking you for subsequent projects. But, it means that you need to respond to the solicitation and hopefully win it.
3. Winning a contract can raise your profile. By a winning contract, you are not only increasing your profile (and that of your business) with the client, but depending on who the client is, can help you to attract and win future work with other organisations. Additionally, completing that project will help you to augment the experience you bring to the table, which can position you to win subsequent projects with the same client, or with other organisations, and to be seen as an expert in your field.
Cons
The cons of responding to a tender or other types project opportunity, unlike the pros, they tend to me more evident in the actual preparation process.
1. Preparing tenders/responses are time consuming. Depending on the format and requirements, and especially if you are preparing your first tender, it can take several days to complete the submission. Further, many organisations, particularly those in the Caribbean tend to provide a small window (frequently less than 2 weeks) in which to respond, and if hard copies of the documents must be submitted, that also cuts into the proposal preparation time. It therefore means that the tender/response preparation process can be quite stressful, even when there is a small team working on completing a submission.
2. Every project is different. Although you might be familiar with the format in which your submission should be prepared, and you already have some of the content that would need to be included, each project and its associated solicitation is different. Hence, the project requirements ought to be carefully considered and understood, and the resulting submission address those requirements.
3. Tender processes can be protracted. It is indeed a lucky day when a procurement process only requires one submission from interested parties so that the procurement team can make a decision. Typically, and for large (more lucrative) projects, the procurement process can have multiple stages over several months, such as a pre-qualification stage, invitation for expressions of interest, request for proposals, site visits and various meetings. Ultimately, those processes are a marathon and not a sprint, and whether you have the stamina to see them through to the end ought to be carefully considered.
4. Responding to tenders can be expensive. This is a frequently overlooked point; however, responding to a solicitation can be expensive in both time and money. Having already discussed the time demand in a previous point, here we will focus on money, and some of the non-refundable expenses that you may need to cover to participate in a tender process. First, you may need to purchase the tender documents. Second, depending on the information that must be supplied, money may need to be spent to access certain types of information, or to fulfil certain requirements, such as with respect to getting your financials in order, or securing insurance. Finally, if hard copies of the submission must be delivered to a specified location, printing and courier services costs will also need to be covered.
In summary, although the cons might seem more daunting and outweigh the pros, it must be emphasised that unless you respond to a tender, you have no chance of being considered. The point, therefore, is to try to balance what the likely gains are against the sacrifices that might need to be made.
Good luck!
Image: domeckopol (Pixabay)
Read more
Dear Editor,
Despite the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) in 2016, Guyana’s procurement process is still infested with prejudice, inequality, unfairness, discrimination, nepotism and racism and, even worse, there is no proper mechanism to deal with appeals and complaints.
Government and Opposition politicians are fully aware of this situation, but for some reason they seem to lack the vision, drive, energy or political will to do whatever is necessary to fix the seriously flawed process and make it fair, transparent and accountable as the nation’s Constitution requires. Partial solutions have not worked and cannot work.
I recall that it was public pressure arising from deep suspicion about corrupt practices infecting the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) that caused President David Granger to establish the PPC about two years ago.
At the PPC swearing in ceremony, President Granger stressed that the commission’s role is to ensure that the procurement process is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective, according to law, and according to such policy guidelines as may be determined by the National Assembly.
But despite this noble intention, it quickly became clear that the PPC was not fulfilling its role and did not have the capacity to do so. This was because of its feeble response to Opposition calls for probes into the contract with a Dutch company for a feasibility study on the proposed new Demerara River bridge, as well as the D’Urban Park Project and the Sussex Street bond.
PPC Chairperson Carol Corbin reportedly promised the Opposition to look into those matters, but added that this would be done “within the confines of (the Commission’s) work programme and available resources”. Quite rightly, this position was rejected because the PPC’s work programme and lack of resources cannot stand in the way of its obligation to investigate such complaints promptly and effectively.
I recall that, in July 2017, Opposition MP and former Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall called for the setting up of an Appellate Tribunal as prescribed by the supreme law of the land, the Constitution.
He pointed out that the Constitution stipulates that Parliament may, by law, provide for the establishment of a PPC Tribunal to hear appeals against PPC decisions, and beyond that, appeals against the Tribunal’s decisions can be heard by the Guyana Court of Appeal.
I also recall when the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said it would be assisting Guyana to set up a special mechanism to fast-track projects and Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo stated that the IDB needed to know that the lack of delivery on the contracts is not because procurement officials are not aware of the procedures; it is because of corruption.
When I heard these pronouncements, I was taken aback because this same situation existed during all the 23 years when the Opposition was in Government and they were in positions of power to make a difference. I asked myself: Where were Jagdeo and Nandlall then? Are they are only seeing this now they are out of power?
I always support sense over nonsense. Therefore, I support Nandlall’s position on the setting up of a PPC Appellate Tribunal and I also support Jagdeo’s move to alert the IDB about corruption in the public procurement process. I hope the former President did indeed write to IDB about it as he said.
Like many other genuine investors in Guyana with extensive knowledge of the way contracts should be awarded, I am extremely frustrated by the persistence of corruption, favouritism and racism in the public procurement process. It is absolutely atrocious that there is no suitable, independent body in place to hear appeals against bad decisions or to report wrongdoings.
… more
Image: jessica45 (Pixabay)
Read more
