There will be no distrust in Public Procurement System – Patterson

Alluding that some persons were of the misconception that they could be awarded contracts because of a ministerial or political connection, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson on Friday set the record straight by stating that there should be no distrust in the system because the Ministry would be interrogating every contract.
Patterson made this declaration at the opening of the Procurement Symposium at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, East Coast Demerara. He stated that when they took office they were approached by persons with contracts for employment but when they interviewed them it was disclosed that “these people” never submitted a tender.
He stated it is because of this distorted system that persons ended up having “complete distrust in our procurement system” and were under the impression that the process was there to empower “certain contractors,” while the other entrants did not stand a chance.
Labelling it as a misapprehension, Patterson affirmed that his Ministry, along with the Finance Ministry would not allow it to live on. He indicated that the Public Infrastructure Ministry had started to interrogate the tenders received, and what they found were some glaring omissions.

He stated that persons were not completing their forms or providing sufficient information for them to be awarded the contracts. He added that his Ministry is guided by procurement laws and they cannot subvert them, so if proper tenders are not submitted then contractors would not “stand a chance” at getting contracts.
Indicating that some persons were expressing frustration with the government and declaring that “this is not what they voted for,” Patterson stated that if they voted for law and order, then they should not expect anything less; thus the path to acquiring contracts would be transparent and open.
“Not because you voted for change means that automatically you have voted yourself a contract. We stand for law and order…and I’m sure you would not want us to go down a path that is not open and transparent,” he said.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Annette Ferguson stated that the objective of the symposium is to educate the existing and new suppliers of civil works and services on the procurement requirements legislations.
She stated that public procurement is a very critical issue for the government since more than 70 per cent of the National Budget accounts for public procurement, approximately $160B annually. The Ministry of Finance estimates that public procurement accounts for 27 per cent of the country’s GDP.
Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran contended that as a result of weaknesses in the system of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), the government loses approximately $28B annually due to corrupt behaviour in public procurement, which includes sole servicing of drug contracts, contract splitting, inflated engineer estimates, evaluation bias on behalf of favoured contractors, the use of inexperienced contractors, the absence of competitive bidding in some cases and over-payments to contractors.
This has raised significant concerns within the Ministry, Ferguson said, adding that the symposium is thus “timely and pushes to increase transparency and fairness and eliminate corruption throughout education of the procurement act and regulations.”
She stated that the Ministry anticipates that from this symposium they will attract more suppliers of works and services to enhance the competitive bidding process: “We hope that new suppliers with the requisite education and qualifications will be able to qualify and produce quality works and services.”
She indicated that it will advance the reputation of contractors and “the government will get value for money, the citizens are happy and there is less financial burden on the treasury”.
At the symposium new entrants were educated on the National Procurement Act and the prequalification for contracts, as well as how to become compliant with the Guyana Revenue Authority, National Insurance Scheme, and local insurance companies.
They were able to learn about the bid evaluation process and were privy to a simulation bid submission. This simulation highlighted the “dos and don’ts” of bid submissions and provided participants with realistic examples. Moreover, focus was placed on informing participants on the contract award process, as well as the protest process.