Increase in persons seeking to bid for contracts recorded – PPC CEO

…urges small-to-large-scale contractors to register for upcoming training

With the increase in capital projects has also come an increase in persons who are interested in bidding for contracts. It is an increase that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is seeking to account for by training both agencies and contractors on how to bid for contracts and the procedures involved.
On Wednesday, the PPC hosted an Open Day activity at its New Garden Street, Queenstown, Georgetown office. While there, members of the public were able to meet with staff of the PPC Secretariat and get their questions answered.
PPC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Singh explained that with the uptick in capital projects across the country and persons looking to get into bidding, more education is needed on procurement. Additionally, he pointed out that one of the PPC’s mandates is educating the public on procurement practices and laws.
“In the procurement aspect, what we’ve seen is lots of people are interested in that: to know what are the requirements, what they should do, what they should not do, what are the processes and so on with procurement,” he said.

“A large sum in the national budget, billions of dollars, has been earmarked for infrastructure projects and also for goods and services which (have) to deal with procurement. Because of that, we find there is a greater need, and also people are very much coming to us saying, ‘We need to be trained’,” he explained.
According to Singh, some of the most common queries being made by the general public to the commission have to do with how persons can get into the system and bid for Government contracts, and what are the documents that are required.
The CEO explained that persons who came to the Open Day activity spoke with procurement specialists, civil engineers, operations managers and legal officers to get further assistance.
The CEO further expounded on the Secretariat’s future plans for bringing more training and awareness to bidders and agencies, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
“On May 31, we’re having a contractors’ training at the Ramada Hotel in Providence. The ad will go out, the press release will go out, so that others will see. We’re encouraging contractors: small-, medium- and large-scale contractors, to register for this training and come and be empowered.
Come and receive more knowledge; ask their questions, because we’re doing this and we have IDB also doing a complete component of the training. And also, we’re having NPTAB with the PPC, and we will conduct this training,” he explained.
The members of the PPC were appointed by President Dr Irfaan Ali in July 2022. They are Attorney-at-Law Pauline Chase; Economist Rawle Lucas; Financial Analyst Joel Bhagwandin; Berkley Wickham and Rajnarine Singh.
The PPC is a constitutional body established to monitor public procurement to ensure that not only principles of public procurement are upheld: fairness, equity, transparency, value for money, and competition; but that public procurement procedures are executed in accordance with the procurement laws of Guyana.
The priority areas of the PPC are to promote awareness of the rules for public procurement in Guyana, spearhead reform of the legislative framework of the public procurement system, investigate complaints of irregularities in public procurement, and monitor the performance of public procurement entities.
The Constitution of Guyana mandates that the PPC shall consist of five members who shall have expertise and experience in procurement, legal, finance, and administrative matters. The President shall appoint the members of the Commission after such members have been nominated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and approved by not less than two-thirds of the elected members of the National Assembly.
According to the Constitution, the members of the PPC shall be appointed for a term of three years, and shall be eligible for re-appointment for one other term of office, not earlier than three years after the end of their first term. Of those appointed, two shall hold office for four years.
The life of the last PPC came to an end in October 2020. The first PPC was established in October 2016, more than a decade after the Constitution was amended to cater to the procurement oversight body.
Former Labour Minister Nanda Kishore Gopaul, Carol Corbin, Sukrishnalall Pasha, Emily Dodson and Ivor English were its first members. Corbin was elected as its chairperson. (G3)