Transparency key focus at telecoms procurement workshop
Stabroek News
December 13, 2002
Open tendering and transparency in procurement in the telecommunications sector is the focus of a week-long workshop hosted by Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T).
The workshop promoted by the United Kingdom (UK) based Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) is designed to place emphasis on processes to be followed when procuring materials for the industry.
Director of Procurement at the Washington-based communications company Intelsat, Lisa Greeley, and Manager, Sales Engineering Application Support and Training, Vangal Ravi, are two of three resource persons at the workshop which opened on Monday.
According to Greeley, participants who are from telecommunication entities in 13 Caribbean territories affiliated to the CTO, will benefit from discussions on processes to be adopted in sourcing materials along with due diligence mechanisms.
Participants will also learn about terms and conditions accompanying purchases.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds, in his address highlighted the importance of enhancing procurement and evaluation skills to help in increasing efficiency and effectiveness in the communications industry.
Hinds highlighted problems associated with procurement by the government which he said is frequently charged with the same improprieties found in private entities.
According to the PM, there is always a need to seek a path of collaboration while striving to avoid unwarranted suspicion.
CTO’s Director, Business Development, Tim Eyre saw the workshop as a way of gaining feedback from customers around the table on ways to better promote the procurement process.
He noted that the subject was not new to the CTO as it had held similar events in Africa and the Pacific region prior to this one in Guyana.
Delegations have come from as far as the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
