Cabinet’s ‘no-objection’ role to be phased out – Sharma

The establishment of the five-member Public Procurement Commission (PPC), which is currently marred by delays before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), will see the phasing out of Cabinet’s role in giving its ‘no-objection’ to the procurement process.

This is according to Junior Finance Minister Jaipaul Sharma, who noted that before this could come into effect the Public Procurement Commission would have to be in place.

However, he pointed out that in the absence of such a Commission, then in accordance with the laws, Government would now have to increase the ceiling on contracts’ value that Cabinet is required to give its no-objection on.

As it is presently, the Procurement Act provides for Cabinet to review contacts exceeding the value of $15 million. However, the Junior Finance Minister hinted that this amount could increase to $40 million to $50 million.

According to the law, Cabinet and the Public Procurement Commission, upon its establishment, shall review annually, the Cabinet’s threshold for review of procurement, with the objective of increasing that threshold over time so as to promote the goal of progressively phasing out Cabinet’s involvement and decentralising the procurement process.

“In the interim, if the Public Procurement Commission is not established, Cabinet should have been increasing (the ceiling) every year… The law stipulates that Cabinet’s role should be phased out and by Government increasing the limit, is an indication that we are going to phase out,” he stated.

Sharma noted that when contracts were before Cabinet for its ‘no-objection’, Ministers were very vocal and objective about their positions and this often resulted in the process being stymied.

“If a Minister objects to (a contract), the project will have to go back to the tender board and be re-evaluated and then returned back (to Cabinet) and that in itself is holding it up. So the Public Procurement Commission is needed,” he stated.

Minister Sharma was at the time speaking with reporters after the opening ceremony of a one-day sensitisation workshop on public procurement hosted by CARIFORUM and the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) on Tuesday.

During his remarks to the gathering, the Junior Finance Minister outlined that the delayed establishment of the Public Procurement Commission was not preventing Government from taking appropriate steps to ensure that there was a transparent and accountable procurement process.

He noted that among the measures put in place by Government, in the interim, was increasing the limit on contracts processed at various levels, starting from the ministerial boards to the regional tender boards and then the National Tender Board.

“Increasing limits assist the various boards to process larger amounts in terms of contracts so that they don’t have to send it to the National Board for considerations. So, at their level, they can facilitate that process,” he stated.

Additionally, Sharma noted that Cabinet also looked at the proposal of increasing the number of evaluators available to Government. Currently, evaluators are made up of public servants such as Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Department.

The Minister explained that “by increasing the number of evaluators, you make it possible for persons to meet on a regular basis so that they can evaluate and report to the various boards on that evaluation and the award will be made. So it’s an effort to speed up the process so contracts will be awarded …more speedily…”

The Junior Finance Minister went on to say another step taken by Government to ensure transparency and accountability was the implementation of the ‘Bid Protest Committee’, which allows contractors who were not satisfied with the evaluation to make an objection to the process.

He pointed out that already one company has made an objection to the Committee. That company is Cevon’s Waste Management Inc which filed objections to the award of the $221 million contract to Puran Brothers Inc for the management of the Haags-Bosch Landfill site at Eccles, East Bank Demerara.