The Central Procurement Office has finally launched its new website after a year of working on it. The site provides a central portal for stakeholders inside and outside government who are involved in the supply and provision or acquisition of public services, and offers a platform where the public as well as public servants can learn all about government contracts, officials said. The Central Procurement Office is the new centralised department within the finance ministry which sets the guidance, standards, tools and templates to regulate public procurement.
CPO Director Craig Milley said that much thought had gone into creating a website that could comprehensively accommodate searches for information by internal and external stakeholders. All the information that a procurement officer within government might require and how businesses can bid for tenders is available on the site.
“We wanted to ensure that the site is attractive, very easy to navigate and supremely user-friendly, in short, that it offers a world-class design,” Milley said about the site which has taken some twelve months to complete. Officials said that this was partly due to the director and Deputy Director Elizabeth Gerrie aiming for a design that readily provided information with minimal search attempts and they spent a good bit of time fine-tuning the website design and contents.
“We wanted to under-promise and over-deliver, and accordingly used the time to get the website, its contents and design up to exacting specs,” the director explained.
However, officials said the website remains a work in progress, at least for a few weeks, to ensure that fine-tuning, if required, continues.
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Preparations have started for what will be Saba’s largest infrastructural project ever: the expansion of the harbour at Fort Bay that includes the construction of a second, larger pier.
A so-called sub-soil study, which entails the testing of the sea floor in the direct vicinity of the new pier, is in the planning phase, according to Saba Commissioner Bruce Zagers. This study is important for the breakwater that needs to be constructed to protect the actual pier against the swells. A specialised company needs to carry out this study due to its complexity and specifics. Government has started to look for a company that can carry out the job.
After the sub-soil study, the final design will be made. Witteveen+Bos will be designing the new multi-million pier and the adjacent breakwater. The Dutch engineering company did the design of the current big pier and has the necessary experience. The big pier has withstood all hurricanes, including Irma and Maria.
While in the Netherlands last week and the week before for a series of meetings, the Saba delegation, headed by Commissioner Zagers, met with Witteveen+Bos and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management I&W. “We want to get everyone on the same page and go for the best possible design,” Zagers told The Daily Herald.
The new pier will be bigger than the current “big” pier and will replace the actual small pier which has been damaged by the hurricanes and needs urgent replacing. Temporary repairs were made to the small pier following Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
The exact amount of the project is not known at this time because it is still in the planning phase, but for sure it will be the largest in Saba’s history, said Zagers. The project will be financed through the Dutch Government.
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Image: Wikipedia
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The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has provided US$248 million in loan support for three key government initiatives.
A total of US$160 million has been earmarked for the Public Sector Transformation Project; US$68 million for the National Identification System (NIDS); and US$20 million to further boost national security technology inputs.
Finance and the Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, and IDB President, Luis Alberto Moreno, signed agreements formalising the provisions during a ceremony at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Monday (February 26).
The signing coincided with the seventh annual IDB Caribbean Governors’ Conference, which was held today (February 27), at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.
Mr, Shaw, who emphasised the importance of the public-sector transformation programme, reiterated that 84 State entities are being targeted for closure, divestment, merging or subsuming back into Central Government over the next three years.
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Image: Ken Teegardin (flickr)
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To a considerable degree, the successful and timely completion of a project requires effective project management. Frequently, we think of project management only when for large or complex assignments that require several times and a broad range of resources to be managed. However, even the most straightforward, one-man, project can go off the rails if poorly handled. More importantly, a poorly managed project that is fraught with delays and other challenges, is costly to you, the Consultant or Vendor, as it means that you end up spending more time and effort that you had initially budgeted.
Hence if you are project managing a team, or just a single-man operation, here are five crucial project management skills you ought to possess.
1. Great communication
As the project manager, you are leading the team (even if it is a team of one!). And typically, you cannot have effective leadership without great communication. Clarity and conciseness when communicating instructions, expectations and concerns and observations, both written and orally, to team members and the client is crucial. Miscommunication and misunderstandings can be costly, and also result in unwelcomed delays to remedy errors made.
2. Time Management
Efficient project managers are proficient in organising their time and in prioritising tasks. With regard to a team, the project manager is the one to keep all members on track: that everyone knows what they should be working on; that priority tasks are being actively handled; that internal and official timelines are being met; and that anticipated challenges are being proactively addressed. It thus means that they are continually monitoring how projects are progressing, and try to pre-empt situations that could derail the timelines established and agreed.
Additionally, and during the work plan development stage, project managers should aim to be fair and realistic when setting internal deadlines for completion of specific tasks by team members, as it can be demoralising if activities are woefully under-resources. Hence, the effort ought to be made to ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to facilitate efficient and effective delivery of required outputs.
3. Leadership
While it might be obvious, the project manager must lead the project, and so must possess strong leadership skills. Although there might be team members that outrank the project manager in the organisation, to do the job effectively, the project manager must lead, which would include:
- forming and managing teams
- making decisions
- communicating with client and stakeholders
- delegating authority to others, as needed, to execute certain tasks.
It must be emphasised that, when a project experiences a major challenge, especially if it detrimental to the team and/or organisation, all fingers tend to point to the project manager. Hence while you might have to tread lightly when dealing with senior executives who are on a project team – which is your excellent communications skills will be needed – these members, and their responsibility to the team, still need to be managed.
4. Problem Solving
Finally, it is rare when a project does not have one unexpected challenge. Generally, and from the outset, there are issues that must be addressed. Frequently, many are minor, and just some tweaking of the project plan is needed, or a simple remedy can be applied. However, occasionally, there a major problem emerges that requires careful consideration and solutions to be weighed that try to minimise loss and other undesired outcomes.
To that end, project managers ought to be able to examine a problem logically and systematically; generate possible remedies; analyse the pros and cons of each; and offer a solution (or course of action) that should be implemented. Frequently, the options will need to be discussed with company management and with the client. Hence a clear and logical approach, with competent analysis ought to be demonstrated.
Image: Digital Buggu (Pexels)
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The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will establish its first country office in the Republic of Haiti later this year. Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Antonio Rodrigue and the Bank’s Vice-President (Operations), Monica La Bennett, signed the Agreement on February 27, 2018 on the sidelines of the 29th Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Haiti.
La Bennett said that the signing of the Country Agreement further cements the strong partnership between CDB and the Republic of Haiti.
“Last year, CDB, in collaboration with the Government of Haiti, developed a country strategy plan for the period 2017 to 2021, with an indicative resource envelope of USD100 million to help Haiti meet its development priorities. The strategy focuses on three main themes: agriculture and community development, sustainable energy development and education and training. It is this deepening engagement between CDB and the Government of Haiti that has led us to conclude that there is a need for a country office. We expect that this will lead to the development of closer relationships with the Government and the people of this country, enabling CDB to be a more proactive, responsive development partner,” she said.
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Image: Wikimedia Commons
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