Bahamas<\/p>\n
One must talk less about transparency but rather strive to be transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The eProcurement Supplier Registry was launched by the Ministry of Finance on December 19, 2017 and at that time, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest announced, \u201cThis government administration is keeping its promise to bring greater accountability, transparency and modernity to The Bahamas government by changing how persons and businesses bid for government purchasing opportunities, otherwise known as procurement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Procurement will move from a very paper-based, time-consuming process to an online automated system that utilises standardised forms, with clearly defined evaluation criteria. Interested bidders can prepare and submit documents through the online portal, which will be known as the E-Tendering and Supplier Registrar System.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore importantly, these initiatives will leap the country forward in terms of having transparent and accountable use of public resources that will ultimately expand opportunities for a greater number of Bahamian businesses and save taxpayers some money in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DPM said the government is a major procurer of goods, works and services in the country, spending in excess of $1.475 billion to deliver public services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis underscores the importance of having in place effective, fair and efficient procurement arrangements, to ensure that the best value is obtained for the monies being spent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Again on November 29, 2018, while opening the Ministry of Finance\u2019s E-Procurement reform seminar, which was held at Pelican Bay Resort, Freeport, as well as officially launching the E-Procurement and Supplier Registry System in Freeport, the then deputy prime minister said, \u201cThe whole idea of the reform is to make the process of government procurement transparent and to ensure that there is fairness across the system, so that everyone has an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turnquest said, \u201cI know that for most businesses in The Bahamas that I have come across, one of the things that they have been concerned about is fairness and access.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said, \u201cWe know how it worked in the past, where if your party is in power you get the contracts and when your party is not in power, you\u2019re out of luck. This system seeks to try to create some balance, some equity and fairness across the system, so that we can take out these kinds of bias.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we allow the system to work the way it has been designed to work, it is going to create equity and it will result in savings and GDP business growth for all Bahamians.\u201d<\/p>\n
More recently on March 15, 2021, Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration Elsworth Johnson, on closing the debate on the Public Procurement Bill, said, \u201cFor about five years or more persons have been discussing the necessity of having an electronic process, how persons would tender, how they would appeal as, Killarney said, and how persons can be treated justly.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was just last month that the Department of Immigration engaged a vendor to provide meals for the detainees of the Detention Centre. The electronic process and the print media were not used to invite bids for this service, as prescribed by the government\u2019s tender process for any contract in excess of $50,000.<\/p>\n
In 2018, the Committee of Experts of the Follow-Up Mechanism on the Implementation of The Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, (MESICIC), of which the Bahamas is a signatory since 1998, visited The Bahamas and interviewed myself and other officials from the Ministry of Finance to follow up on the public procurement reform process. This was part of a series of visits and this one was considered as Round 5.<\/p>\n
In their final report dated September 18, 2018, MESICIC made a recommendation that The Bahamas government should consider enacting a new comprehensive legal and regulatory framework which encompasses all the branches and agencies of the state applicable to government procurement of goods, works, and services and embodies the principles of openness, equity, and efficiency upheld in the convention; and to establish a centralized registry of contractors of works, goods or services, mandatory to all state bodies and dependencies, which contemplate the possibility to ensure that such registration also include a list of sanctioned contractors, in order to foster the principles of openness, equity and efficiency provided for in the convention.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has been two years and seven months since its initial launch and\u00a0two years since all government ministries, agencies and state-owned enterprises were mandated to use the portal for all procurements.<\/p>\n
To date, there are 2,266 vendors who have registered on the system. However, 208 of them will not receive email notices of the opportunities available to them, because since the departure of the international consultant and the procurement officer of the Ministry of Finance in March of this year, the ministry lacked the ability to approve these vendors on the system electronically, causing these vendors grave inconveniences.<\/p>\n
The same dilemma exists for new buyers and those sending in requests for technical assistance via email. Approximately four months have passed now and the Ministry also has yet to hire an IT systems manager to manage the system to address the situations mentioned above and more.<\/p>\n
The following is a list of ministries, agencies. departments and state-owned enterprises that have not registered on the e-Procurement Supplier Registry to date:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ministry of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ministry of Foreign Affairs;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Office of the Governor-General;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ministry of Education;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ministry of National Security;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Office of the Attorney General & Ministry of Legal Affairs;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Office of the Prime Minister;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ministry of Public Service and National Insurance;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ministry of Social Services & Urban Development;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ministry of Tourism and Aviation;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Archives;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Business Licence \u2013 Valuation Unit;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Cooperatives Development;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Court of Appeal;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Education;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Fire Services;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Forestry Unit;<\/p>\n
\u2022 HIV-AIDS Centre;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Housing;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Immigration;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Office of Internal Audit;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Labour;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Meteorology;<\/p>\n
\u2022 National Anti-Drug Secretariat;<\/p>\n
\u2022 National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA);<\/p>\n
\u2022 Port Department;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Post Office Department;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Public Health;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Public Prosecutions;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Registrar Generals Department;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Road Traffic;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Royal Bahamas Police Force;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Royal Bahamas Police Force \u2013 Grand Bahama;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Social Services;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Statistics (Nassau);<\/p>\n
\u2022 Supreme Court;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC);<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology Commission (BEST);<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bahamas Investment Authority;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bahamas Maritime Authority;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bahamas Trade Commission;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bahamasair Holding Ltd.;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bank of The Bahamas;<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Central Bank of The Bahamas;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Compliance Commission;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Office of the Data Protection Commissioner;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Nassau Flight Services;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Securities Commission of The Bahamas;<\/p>\n
\u2022 University of The Bahamas;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Utilities Regulations & Competition Authority (URCA).<\/p>\n
It is my understanding that the Ministry of Finance is aggressively attempting to have all of these departments on the system by September. Instead of trying to reach an unrealistic deadline to just populate the ePSR. They need to take a more strategic approach to yield the best results by first concentrating on the agencies that have a larger capital works and services budget as these are high in value and should be placing their request for bids on the portal. This would enhance transparency, ensure value for money and create an equal opportunity for the vendors in their respective industries. These agencies are:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Public Works;<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Public Hospitals Authority;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bahamas Power and Light;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Department of Education;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Water and Sewage Corporation;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Royal Bahamas Police Force;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Royal Bahamas Defence Force.<\/p>\n
Secondly, to support these large procurements they ought to ensure that the Tenders Board Governance module is installed and the board gets trained in order to make the necessary approvals or recommendation; after all, the developer was paid $60,000 since February of this year.<\/p>\n
If one was to go to\u00a0suppliers.gov.bs<\/a>\u00a0and search opportunities, you would find that out of the 36 agencies that are registered on the system, there are only\u00a0four that are actively using it for most of their procurements and they are:<\/p>\n \u2022 The National Insurance Board;<\/p>\n \u2022 Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources;<\/p>\n \u2022 Bahamas Department of Correctional Services;<\/p>\n \u2022 Royal Bahamas Defence Force.<\/p>\n Our sister Caribbean nations such as Jamaica (www.gojep.gov.jm) the Cayman Islands (www.cayman.bonfirehub.com) and Trinidad & Tobago (www.ttconnect.g) have e-Procurement Systems as well, and on searching their opportunities a large variety of bids for goods works and services are listed. This is extremely different from what is seen on The Bahamas\u00a0suppliers.gov.bs<\/a>, as our requests for bids are primarily for goods.<\/p>\n As we are now in an election period, there are almost daily announcements by the government on project contract awards, none of which are reaching the portal. The former deputy prime minister and minister of finance meant well when he launched the ePSR. I wonder what he would say now as there is surely a lack of transparency in public procurement at the moment.<\/p>\n The IDB\u2019s Economic and Financial Analysis 2015 conducted on The Bahamas\u2019 procurement system reported that the implementation of an e-procurement system is going to provide more transparency and more competition in the different procurement processes, which will generate savings in the acquisition of goods and services.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s hope that the Public Procurement Act will come into force soon so we can actualize these changes.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n