Public Procurement System to Be Reviewed
Jamaica
Plans are being made to review the public procurement system as the Government aims to achieve greater levels of efficiency.
Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, said this will be a “data-driven approach towards reviving the procurement system”.
“The Ministry is undertaking a data-intensive process where we will be retrieving information on 27 variables in procurement [relating to] economic efficiency, regulatory compliance [and] efficiency with respect to time,” he noted.
Dr. Clarke was speaking at a ceremony hosted by the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) in Kingston on August 24, to celebrate the milestone achievement of ISO 9001:2015 Certification.
The Minister emphasised that the public procurement system, overall, “needs some review, because many procurements take too long in many [government] agencies and ministries”.
“Part of the problem is that we have too many layers in the procurement process, and we have to recall that the process was put in place prior to us having an independent investigative body, with its own prosecutorial powers and powerful anti-corruption entity,” he added.
Image: Blue Diamond Gallery