{"id":24588,"date":"2022-10-13T22:18:06","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T03:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=24588"},"modified":"2022-10-13T11:24:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T16:24:22","slug":"still-no-procurement-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/still-no-procurement-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Still no procurement reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trinidad and Tobago<\/p>\n

The JCC was invited to attend the Spotlight on the Economy forum hosted by the Ministry of Finance on September 2. All present were informed that the 2022\/2023 budget was going to be read by the minister on September 26 and that the country could expect it to be over $50 billion with a smaller deficit of around $2 billion. The latter was indeed good news.<\/p>\n

The JCC however warned the public earlier this year that we were about to have yet another budget read without procurement reform via legislation that has undergone all due processes, including three sets of amendments, since 2015.<\/p>\n

The current situation, as far as the public has been informed, is that the Attorney General told Parliament on June 22 that, inter alia, comments from the Chief Justice (that he the AG solicited), were \u201ctraffic stopping\u201d \u2013 meaning that the Government could not proceed at that time with full operationalisation but that the Ministry of Attorney General and Legal Affairs was addressing all \u201coutstanding\u201d matters with the assistance of the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR).<\/p>\n

During the question and answer period, the JCC therefore posed the following question to the Prime Minister: \u201cBased on the understanding that procurement reform has the potential to save this country billions of taxpayers\u2019 dollars, what is the Government\u2019s revised target date for full operationalisation of the procurement legislation?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister\u2019s response was equally astounding and disappointing. First he indicated that he did not agree that procurement reform has the potential to save TT billions of dollars. For this, he relied on his recent discussions with the Jamaican Prime Minister, in which the latter indicated that in the Jamaica experience, it led to higher costs and more delays in the sphere of smalle-scale procurement.<\/p>\n

The JCC can find no evidence for this statement but cautions Dr Rowley that we should be comparing ourselves to more developed countries if we aspire to achieve significant improvement in our systems. Rowley then repeated his previously made public comment that procurement reform was not a panacea for curing corruption.<\/p>\n

No stakeholder has ever claimed that procurement legislation, when operationalised, would be a magic wand to change corruption associated with public spending. Operationalisation of the legislation would simply facilitate real oversight by an independent body, the OPR that is now ably equipped with the human and technological resources to execute its primary function under the Public Procurement and Property Disposal Act.<\/p>\n

Everyone understands that the process of change will continue to be slow before the country realises the benefit of reduced corruption through increased efficiency, independent oversight and transparency.<\/p>\n

Rowley of all people understands that good behaviour around public money has to be legislated while transgressions require heavy enforceable penalties to act as a deterrent. Or, as Martin Luther King Jr put it, \u201cMorality cannot be legislated, but behaviour can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.\u201d<\/p>\n

We therefore implore our Prime Minister to stop sending mixed signals to his ministers and the public service entities that continue to spend public money with impunity. We need the law fully operationalised to grapple as a society with restraining the heartless few taking unfair advantages in the realm of public procurement.<\/p>\n

After responding as described above, Rowley closed his response by stating that, yes, he wants the procurement legislation passed but some work is required, but it will be done. The question of a final deadline was not given by the prime minister.<\/p>\n

After seven years of the previous regime passing the parent act in 2015, this response is simply unacceptable from the person with maximum power and ultimate responsibility in TT. According to the regulator, Moonilal Lalchan, \u201cproper procurement practices could save this country a conservative $5.2 billion a year \u2013 otherwise lost to corruption or inefficiency\u201d (Feb 7, 2020).<\/p>\n

The JCC again calls on the prime minister to get involved in the details of the outstanding matters with the AG, that he referred to as \u201csome work,\u201d so that he can properly advise the public of a final date for the full operationalisation of the procurement legislation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

more\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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image: \u00a0pexels-pixabay<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trinidad and Tobago The JCC was invited to attend the Spotlight on the Economy forum hosted by the Ministry of Finance on September 2. All present were informed that the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":24589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[250],"tags":[121,137],"class_list":["post-24588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-caribbean","tag-trinidad-and-tobago"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/pexels-pixabay-53621-scaled-e1665685096444.jpg?fit=1024%2C603&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-6oA","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23849,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/jcc-slams-ag-on-procurement-legislation\/","url_meta":{"origin":24588,"position":0},"title":"JCC slams AG on procurement legislation","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"September 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Trinidad and Tobago \u00a0 The Joint Consultative Council (JCC) for the construction industry is accusing the Attorney General of creating a ruse to delay the procurement legislation. In a press release on Tuesday, the JCC said it was \u201csounding the alarm\u201d that statements made by AG Reginald Armour about depending\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34784,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/joint-consultative-council-where-is-procurement-regulators-annual-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":24588,"position":1},"title":"Joint Consultative Council: Where is Procurement Regulator\u2019s annual report?","author":"Michele Marius","date":"June 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Trinidad and Tobago The Joint Consultative Council (JCC) is concerned about Procurement Regulator Beverly Khan\u2019s failure to issue an annual report as required by section 24 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act, which was operationalised in April last year. 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