Bahamas
Contractors Association President Leonard Sands slammed the government’s continued failure to publish contract awards under the Public Procurement Act.
A revised version of the law requires the government to disclose the name and address of winning bidders, the procuring entity, the procurement selection method and the award amount within 60 days of the contract awardMr Sands said the Davis administration is choosing not to comply with the requirement.
“The government and the minister of public works by choice are deciding to break the law,” he said. “The law says what should happen and they do not do what the act and the law says.”
Mr Sands said the law is flawed because it imposes no penalty for non-disclosure.
“That’s why the Public Procurement Act didn’t go far enough,” he said. “They already foresaw that they could abuse it, because if you don’t have a penalty, what’s the purpose of me adhering to a law? If someone tells you you could only drive 50mph, but if you drive 60mph nothing happens, you gon’ drive 60mph.”
“Many times the government itself is the one that abuses situations in the country. They should ensure the public is aware who is awarded contracts so they could be seen to be fair.”
Davis administration officials did not answer questions about the matter before press time yesterday.
Financial Secretary Simon Wilson said in April that the government would publish contract awards when the reporting capacity of its procurement system is improved. The government launched the Go Bonfire Platform procurement portal last year. Mr Wilson said officials were back filing information on the new system. The status of those efforts is unclear.
Mr Sands, however, said notifying the public of contract awards should not be complicated.
“Somebody,” he said, “had to sign a document. You know exactly who that person was who signed it, okay? All of the things they tell you are garbage responses to their intention to willfully hide information from the public.”
Concern about the lack of transparency over procurement processes has persisted for years, a problem the law was designed to cure.
The law has no effect,” Mr Sands claimed. “The Public Procurement Act and its improvements have no effect. The same things that were going on prior to the act being in place continues.”
He said contractors do not expect much from the government.
“Contractors know that, at the end of the day, the persons who the government and or the minister and or whoever wants to have that contract, will have that contract. There’s nothing to do with whether they follow all the protocols of the Public Procurement Act. That’s the sentiment across the board.”
In its 2022 Investment Climate Statement report on The Bahamas, the US Bureau of Economic and Affairs highlighted procurement issue“The government passed a Public Procurement Act and launched an e-procurement and suppliers registry system in 2021. While the registry system is in place, the Public Procurement Act has yet to be fully implemented. Companies complain that the tender process for public contracts is inconsistent and allege it is difficult to obtain information on the status of bids,” the US agency said.
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Saint Kitts and Nevis
On Saturday, July 01, 2023, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis officially launched its ELEVATE Programme at the NEMA Conference Room. The revised programme has a fundamental focus on human development. ELEVATE effectively revamps the Alternative Lifestyle Pathways Programme (ALPP), commonly referred to as the “Peace Programme”.
The modifications to the programme became necessary as an evaluation of the programme revealed shortcomings including mismanagement in general comprising a lack of transparency and accountability under the former Dr. Timothy Harris-led administration.
The reformed programme features three ‘ELEVATE’ options, namely, elevation through training and certification, elevation through capacity building and elevation through entrepreneurship.
With respect to the training and certification aspect of the programme, Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ms. Naeemah Hazelle said, “It will look at training certification programmes [and] internships. We have local businesses who have offered to do training for our ALPP participants. Currently, the ALPP participants have been separated by zones; we’ve got zone one, zone two and zone three. In future, our participants will actually be defined by training categories or these programme option categories. From our registration, we determined that we had a lot of interest in certain areas like plumbing, construction etc., so you would then be now re-registered into the groups that are related to your skill sets.”
Elevation through capacity-building will see the participants exposed to opportunities for skills training and opportunities for learning how to enter a formal procurement process.
“It is our interest to help our clients to bid for projects and to allow them to bid within the ALPP programme. The participants would be permitted to bid for the opportunities in terms of trucking, for [disposing] of garbage, [and] if we are having workshops and we need food preparation they would be allowed to bid for those as well and that’s an opportunity for them to practice the process of bidding and proposal writing, and then of course looking at some of the contracts that we can offer through the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis,” PS Hazelle explained.
The third ‘ELEVATE’ option, elevation through entrepreneurship, speaks to improving existing businesses, enterprise start-ups and the soon-to-be-introduced ‘ELEVATE Shark Tank’.
Importantly also, Permanent Secretary Hazelle said the participants of the programme will be registered with the Social Security Board so that they too can reap the benefits of the scheme.
She added, “For those who are not aware, the members of ALPP are not registered with Social Security. During our consultations, this was a matter of concern for our participants as it was as if they had no work record at all. So, it’s very important for us as we reintegrate them into the societal system that they would also be registered as working persons and receive the benefits of Social Security.”
The ELEVATE programme will run for a period of two years.
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Jamaica
Procurement practitioners within the Government Service recently participated in a capacity-building workshop geared at improving competencies, efficiency, and productivity in the procurement of goods, services, and resources on behalf of the Government of Saint Lucia.
Director of Procurement in the Department of Finance, Anthony Jean, said the training allowed participants to understand and utilize the provisions within the new procurement legislation to perform better procurements to benefit their agencies.
“It’s not enough that officers know what’s in the law but they appreciate the underlined ‘Why’ allows them to use that as a tool to effectively accomplish what the agencies require. It’s not purchasing or performing a procurement in compliance with the law, but you want to be able to do it in a manner that really gets you what you want for your agency.”
Senior Consultant with Charles Kendall Partnership, Rob Thompson was one of the facilitators of the workshop.
“I’ve been in procurement for 30 plus years working with both the private sector and the public sector but specializing in terms of public procurement and helping developing nations as well as European countries to interpret the regulations in a practical way which will deliver good value for money procurement but still ensure compliance rather than having people focus purely and simply on compliance without thinking about is it good value in the end when they make their procurements.”
He stressed the procurement officer’s important role as procurement touches more of the government’s expenditure than any other function.
“If we get the procurement right, buying hospitals, buying roads, even buying office equipment or furniture. Whatever you think the government needs, it has to be bought. And, that is why procurement is fundamentally one of the most important functions within government to deliver a good return for the investment people make in the taxes they pay.”
The International Tax Consultant implored participants to strive for value for money in procurement.
“The usual approach for people to take, because it’s the safe approach, is to buy the cheapest. So, the lowest price. What I am saying to them is its equally good value to buy one with a better life cost than the initial purchase price. So look at things over their life, and sometimes it’s worth paying more to start off with because it has a lower cost.”
The takeaway for participants, he said, is that performing good procurement leads to good compliance with the standards and legislation. The week-long workshop at the Finance Administrative Building in Pointe Seraphine also involved participants from the audit department who review public procurement.
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Jamaica
A recent social media post by The Gleaner titled “Yallahs residents want local contractors removed from roadwork project” sheds light on the disappointing state of affairs in Jamaica’s construction industry. With the residents saying local contractors are managing poorly and they would prefer a Chinese company managing, it is time for some introspection.
This emphasises the urgent need for an overhaul in the selection process of local contractors. The prevailing practice of awarding contracts primarily based on low cost has resulted in sub par project outcomes, mismanagement, and cost overruns. Let us explore the pitfalls of focusing on low cost, highlighting the case of St Thomas, and needed improvements in the procurement process to foster self-reliance in this industry.
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Caribbean
As talks continue between Guyana, Rwanda and Barbados to manufacture vaccines and medicines, the President of the East African nation told Heads of Government of CARICOM on Wednesday that the next step in cementing the arrangement is to decide on a procurement mechanism that will be sustainable.
The Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, is in Port of Spain for the first time and held a special meeting with the CARICOM Heads during the 45th meeting of the region’s Heads of Government at the Hyatt Regency.
“As a start, Guyana, Barbados, and Rwanda have embarked on a program of mutual support for the local manufacturing of vaccines and medicines. The next step is to commit to a pooled procurement mechanism that will make these facilities sustainable over the long run,” Kagame said.
It was in June 2022 that President Dr Irfaan Ali participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for a BioNTech facility – the first vaccine production facility – to be constructed in Rwanda (Kigali).
The facility is the start of a project in cooperation with Ghana, South Africa and Senegal that will allow Africa to become self-sufficient in vaccine production.
And it was there that the Guyanese Head of State stated his own intention to upgrade the country’s legislative and regulatory framework while investing in the necessary training and development research towards establishing a similar facility at home.
The President had told the News Room that the government’s development trajectory in diversifying the local economy is to invest in healthcare and education.
Meanwhile, President Kagame, in his address to the CARICOM Leaders, urged them to find a way to solve the issues of connectivity between Africa and the Caribbean in terms of transport and telecommunications.
He said, “Digital jobs will be a critical driver for high-quality youth employment for our economies, and also a key lever for offering our brightest young people an alternative to migration.
“The Commonwealth has a number of initiatives in this area, which can give us a head-start.”
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