Doing Business in Belize: A Procurement Perspective
An interesting event went unnoticed this past week. It was Belize Social Investment Fund (BSIF)Sensitization Workshop held at the Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza last Thursday. It was organized with the objective of sensitizing suppliers, contractors and service providers of available procurement opportunities under its Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and World Bank funded projects in Belize which covered water and sanitation, health and education among other areas.The presenters’ subliminal messages were clear–contracting opportunities abound in Belize or in the local parlance – opportunities deh ya!
The efforts of this executing agency in hosting this workshop is commendable however, I suspect that this valiant effort is not enough. Similar presentations from other executing agencies and international financing institutions (IFIs) are required to give hope to Belizean contractors, suppliers and service providers who are thirsty for opportunities. Should you run into these people at the local supermarket you can see the despair yet hopeful look on their faces when they tell you that it is only a certain group of people that are getting business or a bite of the pie.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) must surely be commended for hosting Belize’s first procurement fair in collaboration with the CDB which highlighted opportunities in excess of US$232 million and saw participation from a wide cross section of the local business community as well as participation from businesses overseas. But what is the root cause of the perception that only a privileged few benefits from business opportunities in Belize? Are they endowed with special tendering powers? Are the majority of eligible contractors not lucky enough? Surely, the government cannot be blamed for all the ills of society.
I would like to examine this perception from a procurement perspective and not only challenge contractors, suppliers and service providers to a heavy dose of reflection/introspection in their tendering/bidding practices, but to encourage them to increase their scope in identifying business opportunities.
In the first instance, there is a need to ensure that one is familiar with the intricate requirements of a tendering process. In order for tenders to be deemed responsive or even considered beyond initial scrutiny, quotations tendered must meet the minimum requirements, tender submission forms if applicable are required to be correctly prepared and signed, all CVs ofkey experts’ or team members, the list of equipment required to properly execute the job and the years of experience required executing similar assignments must be clearlyoutlined and included. However, that is not the end of it. Presentation is key and sections of a tender which are neatly typed and arranged section by section, is more pleasing to an evaluator’s eyes and creates a good first impression. It is imperative that the tender documents be thoroughly checked to ensure accuracy and completeness before they are promptly submitted before the deadline. Late bids/tenders are never tolerated!
With regards to identifying and understanding opportunities, it is instructive and advantageous to review project documents particularly those relating to loans signed by the government with IFIs. Once the name of the project is known, one can easily google the project name by country to locate these documents which are often times made public and provide solid information on the project at hand. It is a requirement for some IFIs that a procurement plan be published or included with these documents and, it is within this plan that contractors, suppliers and service providers can find procurement opportunities listed, including cost estimates of each opportunity. This information is extremely useful for being a baseline and can assist in arriving at a suitable tender price when the opportunity is advertised. Additionally, one can peruse the awarded contracts section within the IFI website to get an estimate of the costing of similar projects/assignments.
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Image: The Blue Diamond Gallery