Cayman Islands
(CNS): Significant shortcomings in the way government currently reports and manages its now one billion dollar per year budget have been outlined in documents prepared by the finance ministry as it looks for consultants to help modernise the process. The current budget process is failing both the Cayman Islands Government and the people, and does not provide clear links between outputs and outcomes. It also produces long and inconsistent documents that are hard to understand and labour intensive but do not clearly show whether or not the government is making progress with its goals.
The ministry has opened a bid for consultants to supply an outline business case to justify the overhaul and modernisation of both the budget framework and the reporting process. The goal is to shift the focus to the outcomes so that they are clearly defined and monitored in the budget documents, which should be concise and easy to understand.
In the procurement documents supporting the bid, officials point out that at present the outputs are reported in government documents, such as how many meetings a government department may have had on a specific issue, without any indication of what was achieved.
“The links between the Strategic Policy Statement and outcomes desired by the Government and outputs included in the budget statements are unclear and disjointed,” officials stated in the documents as they explained the challenges. “It is important that money and other resources are directed towards achieving the government’s strategic priorities and outcomes, and that appropriate measures are put in place to demonstrate the progress towards achieving these.”
Another major problem is that the budget documents are long, inconsistent, not user-friendly and do not provide basic information for budget scrutiny and decision making. The budget information is laid down on 3,500 pages across five documents, which provide detailed information on the quantity, quality, timeliness and cost of all of the services delivered by the 46 ministries, portfolios, offices, statutory authorities and government companies.
But this volume of information “does not necessarily aid decision-makers and users in understanding the budget documents”, officials said in the documents. They also note that some of the information required by law “does not add significant value for budget users and decision-makers”.
“The budget documents need to be useful to decision-makers and users and include basic information that helps them to understand the budget amount requested and what it is intended to be used for.”
The preparation process is also complex and cumbersome. The Excel costing templates are not linked and the same information has to be manually entered into spreadsheets and documents, creating a labour-intensive process that is fragmented and prone to duplication of efforts and errors.
According to the documents, government also wants to harness technology to enable a streamlined and efficient budget preparation process.
During this first phase government is looking for consultants to prepare a business case that assesses the gaps within the existing budgeting and reporting framework and recommends the best-fit outcome-based budgeting and reporting framework. This bid closes on 5 August, and the consultants are expected to deliver the business case by March next year. After that the CIG will open bids on the next phase to find a consultant to implement the best solution.
Government is anticipating that getting to a modernised process will take several years and will be fully rolled out by the end of 2025.
In February 2015, a Public Management and Finance Law Review Committee report found that government needed to reform budgeting and reporting to allow the actual budget to line up with its goals and enable it to measure success, showing decision-makers what the money spent by the government actually achieved. It also suggested that the budget should be much shorter and simplified.
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Caribbean
Regional governments are being urged to take decisive action now to address hindrances to implementation given the urgent need to put measures in place to protect citizens from ongoing and future economic, social and environmental shocks.
The reminder came from President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Dr Gene Leon, who pointed out that Sir Alister McIntyre himself “noted and lamented” the region’s track record with a lack of implementation, an issue which he said has also been cited by many as “deleterious to this day”.
“As I have said on previous occasions, now is the time for definitive action to address impediments to implementation. Steps must be taken to reform legislative frameworks, enable investment and innovation, improve procurement processes, save time while maintaining compliance with best practice, and necessitate the cultural change that is needed to elevate a private sector enterprise mindset in public sector administration,” warned Leon.
He said Sir Alister’s work was one that highlighted the need for the region to create conditions that would enable residents to “achieve their full potential through improved quality of life, increased opportunities for advancement, functional, social, and economic systems that facilitate wellbeing and social cohesion”.
“Achieving this will require an eco-systemic approach formulated to bolster social, institutional, productive, environmental and financial resilience,” said Leon.
Noting that the time for negotiation was over and it was time for action, Leon said CDB will prioritise food and nutrition security, energy security, water security, and shelter security, which he said were “key areas
for the region to address in the near term to safeguard the long-term.
Leon was speaking during a UWI Press launch of Caribbean Trade, Integration and Development, a two-volume collection of selected papers and speeches of Alister McIntyre at the Walcott Warner Theatre at The UWI, Cave Hill Campus.
Volume one of Sir Alister’s work looks at trade and integration while volume two explores aspects of human resources development and higher education.
Officials say they believed the publications will be of value to a wide cross-section of the society including politicians and political leaders, students and technocrats, while pointing out that a lot of the issues identified by McIntyre over 30 years ago are still relevant today.
Sir Alister, who is attributed with championing the CARICOM integration movement while he was Secretary General between 1974 and 1977, is a Grenadian-born former UWI vice-chancellor who at one point settled in Jamaica. He passed away in Jamaica on April 20, 2019 at the age of 87.
Leon said the collection of work by Sir Alister along with similar writings that were presented to the Caribbean Heads of Government meeting in Barbados in 1967 led to the formation of the CDB in 1970.
Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the bank can trace its antecedents to the writings of Sir Alister McIntyre,” he said.
Leon said his writings provided ample guidance and the CDB would continue to draw from his “vast body of knowledge to fashion solutions for current and future challenges”.
He also stated that the CDB continued to take “key aspects of his philosophy forward” and was working arduously to address several concerns including regional economic integration, trends and challenges associated with the future of Caribbean development, and the centrality of knowledge.
Leon said the CDB was keen on using information technology “to create a dynamic innovation ecosystem to foster integration into global value chains and accelerate the completion of the CSME agenda through trade facilitation and knowledge governance”.
“In addition to logistical connectivity, we are seeking to deepen the region’s cultural connectivity to create a growth mindset about the Caribbean’s development ambitions, and how we position ourselves on the global stage. To achieve this objective, we must harness technological infrastructure to create regional digital networks to facilitate and enhance services in trade, education, health, commerce and government service delivery,” he explained.
He said knowledge acquisition was another area on which the CDB was focused “to promote a shift to evidence-based decision making”, which he said was a key driver for sustainable development.
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Guyana
Attorney-at-Law, who is the incumbent President of the Guyana Bar Association, Pauline Chase has been unanimously elected as the Chairperson of the recently-appointed Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
A press release from the commission said that the body’s first meeting was held on Friday, at the commission’s secretariat in Queenstown, Georgetown.
“In accordance with Article 212(Y)(3) of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, the commissioners unanimously elected Ms. Pauline Chase as Chairperson of the Commission and Mr. Berkley Wickham as Deputy Chairperson,” the release noted.
Chase alongside Rajnarine Singh and Joel Bhagwandin were the government nominees for the commission; Diana Rajkumar and Wickham were the opposition nominees. They were all recently sworn-in by President Dr. Irfaan Ali.
The purpose of the PPC, as outlined in Article 212 AA of the Constitution, is to monitor and review the functioning of all public procurement systems to ensure that they are in accordance with law and such policy guidelines as may be determined by the National Assembly.
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Cayman Islands
he National Roads Authority (NRA) has now published a request for proposals (RFP) for a firm to provide the NRA with professional engineering services for the design of facilities for the treatment and disposal of storm drain wastewater.
The reason for the RFP, according to Alric Lindsay, chairman of the NRA’s board directors, is that the NRA no longer has access to the Water Authority’s treatment facility, which was previously utilised to treat drain water removed from drains across Cayman.
Without access to the Water Authority’s treatment facility and the George Town landfill being the only alternative made available to the NRA by government agencies, the NRA board decided that, either a water treatment facility would need to be acquired or built for the NRA or government agencies would need to make available water treatment facilities in different areas. This not only increases efficiency of drain cleaning and maintenance, but also ensures that drainage water is disposed of and treated in an environmentally safe way.
Lindsay added.
According to the RFP, the winning consultant will work directly with the NRA with input from the Water Authority, Department of Environment and Department of Environmental Health for successful implementation of the services.
Interested parties must submit proposals online via the Cayman Islands Government Public Procurement Portal at https://cayman.bonfirehub.com/opportunities.
The Q&A period for this opportunity started July 12, 2022 and ends on July 25, 2022 at 5:00pm.
Final submissions must be uploaded, submitted, and finalized prior to the closing time of August 5, 2022 at 5:00pm.
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Turks and Caicos
The Office of the Deputy Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands is pleased to announce the appointment of Lurita Ewing to the post of Deputy Director of the Contracts and Corporate Performance Management (Procurement) Unit within the Office of the Deputy Governor.
Commenting on her appointment, Ewing stated: “A quote by Thomas Carlyle states, ‘Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see further’. With that said, I happily and humbly accept the appointment of Deputy Director within the Contracts and Corporate Performance Management Unit and look forward to working in this new capacity.
Professional Development has always been at the forefront of my goals. The workshops and training programs combined with continuous on-the-job training has helped me to carry out my duties by providing guidance on procurement and project management matters to Ministries, Statutory Bodies, and other Public bodies for effective project and business decisions.”
“With this appointment comes great responsibility, but then again this is also a grand opportunity to demonstrate all that I have learned and how capable I am by making meaningful contributions to the organization’s strategic goals. I thank God for this opportunity. I thank family and friends for their support and the management in the Office of the Deputy Governor which has played a monumental role in preparing me for this new challenge in my professional development. It is indeed an honour to have such confidence placed in me. I pledge that I will continue working for the success of this department and by extension, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government and its entities.”
Deputy Governor and Head of the Public Service, Her Excellency Anya Williams, in extending congratulatory remarks to Ms. Lurita Ewing on her appointment stated: “It is with great pleasure that I extend congratulatory remarks to Ms. Lurita Ewing on her appointment as the new Deputy Director of the Contracts and Corporate Performance Management (Procurement) Unit within my office. Lurita is a consummate professional and has worked hard over the years to prepare herself for upward mobility within the Unit. I couldn’t be more proud of her achievements and wish her all the best on this well deserved promotion as we work to implement a number of improvements in the governments annual procurement programs. Congratulations Lurita!”
Ewing who holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Studies from the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College, joined the Turks and Caicos Islands Civil Service in the capacity of Procurement Officer within the Contracts and Corporate Performance Management Unit (CCPMU) in 2015.
In 2016, she completed a Certificate in Compliance from the International Compliance Association and in 2017 she was promoted to the post of Senior Procurement Officer within the CCPMU.
Over the last seven years since joining the public service, Ewing, in her quest for continued professional development, has successfully completed a number of workshops and training programs both locally and internationally through the assistance of the Turks and Caicos Islands Civil Service Professional Development Fund in Public Policy Analysis and Management and Project Cycle Management, Procurement and Contract Management and 1999 FIDIC Contract Management.
She is currently in the process of completing a Level 4 Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) through the University of Technology (UTECH) in Jamaica and is also enrolled in the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification program which is scheduled to be completed later this year.
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