{"id":24803,"date":"2022-10-27T22:39:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T03:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=24803"},"modified":"2022-10-28T02:41:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T07:41:21","slug":"live-up-to-public-procurement-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/live-up-to-public-procurement-law\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Live up to\u2019 Public Procurement law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahamas<\/p>\n

The Bahamas must \u201clive up to the letter and intent of the law\u201d on public procurement, a governance reformer urged yesterday, as he hailed the unveiling of the Government\u2019s new and upgraded tender portal.<\/p>\n

Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance\u2019s (ORG) executive director, told Tribune Business it was vital that The Bahamas had taken \u201ctangible steps forward\u201d to make the awarding of government contracts more open, transparent and accessible (see articles on Page 22 B) after progress had stalled following the Public Procurement Act\u2019s implementation during the Minnis administration\u2019s final days.<\/p>\n

Asserting that it was critical that the Government now \u201cbuild trust in the system\u201d that all bidders will be treated fairly, and have an equal opportunity to provide goods and services to the public sector, he also called for it to \u201cfollow the rule of law\u201d by adhering to the existing legislation.<\/p>\n

The Davis administration has branded the current Public Procurement Act as unworkable in practice because it imposes too many onerous and bureaucratic requirements on government to the point where it cannot function efficiently. However, it has not published details on the winning bidders, the nature of the contract, and the total amount awarded for all government contracts issued between September 1 and end-July 2022 as the law stipulates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all told I\u2019m really glad it\u2019s out,\u201d Mr Aubry told this newspaper regarding\u00a0yesterday\u2019s launch of the upgraded electronic procurement portal. \u201cWe had a chance to see it last week; a little bit of a preview. It seems to be organised in a relatively user friendly way, and it\u2019s good folks can register on the site and find out about opportunities. There are a lot of opportunities coming up very shortly, and they only have a few days to submit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make tangible steps forward. It\u2019s been a year since the Act was enacted. We haven\u2019t seen full enactment; the listing of all bids or the publishing or the publishing of awarded contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law presently requires the Government and all its ministries, departments and agencies to publish \u2013 within 60 days of every contract award \u2013 the winning bidder\u2019s name and address; contract amount; bid title; name of the procuring entity; and bidding method used. This means that all government contracts awarded up to August 3 should now have been publicly declared, but none have.<\/p>\n

The Davis administration has argued that its predecessor\u2019s failure to follow the necessary public service protocols, and appoint a chief procurement officer to oversee the Act\u2019s implementation, meant it is impossible for the Government to reveal these contract details. However, Tribune Business\u2019 analysis of the Act did not reveal anything to suggest disclosure hinges on such an appointment.<\/p>\n

Mr Aubry said The Bahamas\u2019 efforts at public procurement reform had been \u201cmore aspirational in the past\u201d than reality, but progress was now being made by both the current and former administration. Asked about the need for the Government to comply with the existing Act\u2019s contract award disclosure requirements, the ORG chief replied: \u201cIt\u2019s critical for a few reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical that The Bahamas lives up to the letter and intent of the law. Following the rule of law, that needs to be demonstrated by the Government. That\u2019s critical because so many vendors have scepticism that the process will be open and fair because they\u2019ve not seen that or in their experience that has not been the case for many decades. We need to build trust in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Aubry said a properly functioning, transparent and open public procurement system where all bidders have an equal chance will make the Bahamian economy more competitive. \u201cThe Government will have a more competitive choice in selection, and it will give citizens confidence that their tax money is being used to the greatest effect,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of advantages, a lot of benefits to getting it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Public Procurement Act, passed by Parliament under the former Minnis administration and brought into effect on September 1 last year, was intended to end the patronage system that has dominated the awarding of government contracts for decades with bids going to political supporters, family, friends, lovers and others with the right connections as opposed to being issued on merit.<\/p>\n

Implemented just two weeks before the general election, it was also intended to bring greater transparency and efficiency to the millions of dollars awarded in public sector contracts annually by having the process held out in the open. And, especially given the country\u2019s present fiscal challenges, the law was designed to generate value for money for Bahamian taxpayers by ensuring the best bidder won the contract, thus reducing if not eliminating any wastage and corruption.<\/p>\n

However, the Act\u00a0has been the subject of an intense political battle for much of the past year which culminated in last week\u2019s threat by the Opposition Free National Movement (FNM) to initiate a Judicial Review legal action in the Supreme Court over the Davis administration\u2019s alleged violations of the Act by failing to publish details of contract awards.<\/p>\n

However, the Davis administration has argued that the legislation is overly-bureaucratic and cumbersome, making it unworkable in practice. It says this has ensnared simple purchases in red tape, and added to costs and inefficiency, even though clause 34\u2019s \u201climited bidding\u201d provides for emergency contracts. It also pointed out that the accompanying regulations and guidance notes, and multiple other requirements needed to give the law effect, were never put in place.<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/p>\n

image: pexels-rodnae-productions<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bahamas The Bahamas must \u201clive up to the letter and intent of the law\u201d on public procurement, a governance reformer urged yesterday, as he hailed the unveiling of the Government\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":20289,"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":[166,121,125],"class_list":["post-24803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-bahamas","tag-caribbean","tag-public-procurement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841812-scaled-e1648207457324.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-6s3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20919,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/top-us-trade-body-singles-out-bribes-of-convenience\/","url_meta":{"origin":24803,"position":0},"title":"Top US Trade Body Singles Out \u2018Bribes Of Convenience\u2019","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"February 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Bahamas \u00a0 The Bahamian political system is \u201cbeleaguered by reports of corruption\u201d, a newly-released US government report has asserted, singling out what it labelled as \u201csmall scale \u2018bribes of convenience\u2019\u201d. The US Trade Representative\u2019s Office, in its latest report on The Bahamas and other Caribbean nations that benefit from the\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\/2021\/05\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841451-scaled-e1645731888257.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841451-scaled-e1645731888257.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841451-scaled-e1645731888257.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pexels-rodnae-productions-7841451-scaled-e1645731888257.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31525,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/public-procurement-in-the-bahamas-the-e-procurement-supplier-registry\/","url_meta":{"origin":24803,"position":1},"title":"Public procurement in The Bahamas: the e-Procurement Supplier Registry","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"December 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Bahamas One must talk less about transparency but rather strive to be transparent.\u201d In part two of my article\u2019s series, I spoke briefly about the Bahamas government\u2019s e-Procurement Supplier Registry and today I wish to elaborate more on the electronic portal. The eProcurement Supplier Registry was launched by the Ministry\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\/2023\/12\/pexels-peter-olexa-4012966-scaled-e1701993237235.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pexels-peter-olexa-4012966-scaled-e1701993237235.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pexels-peter-olexa-4012966-scaled-e1701993237235.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pexels-peter-olexa-4012966-scaled-e1701993237235.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24162,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/bahamas-newsdavis-says-govt-will-bring-procurement-law-amendments-after-break\/","url_meta":{"origin":24803,"position":2},"title":"Davis says Gov\u2019t Will Bring Procurement Law Amendments After Break","author":"Michele Marius","date":"September 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Bahamas \u00a0 After parliament returns from recess, amendments to the Public Procurement Act will be brought to the House of Assembly \u2013 that is the word from Bahamas\u2019 Prime Minister, Philip Davis. 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