The Procurement Bill 2003 will be debated tomorrow.

In an interview with GINA, Finance Minister Saisnarine Kowlessar said the document is a comprehensive one - one that provides comfort for contractors and suppliers because it sets out the ground rules for procurement and provides for independent reviews.

“This Bill is testimony to the PPP/C Government’s commitment to transparency and accountability as it has promised in its manifesto. The PPP/C has a proud record of achievement in terms of transparency,” he said.

According to the Minister, “this Bill is a very advanced Bill in terms of providing the opportunities for transparency, competition, for the integrity of the procurement process and for the participation of contractors and suppliers…It is the most comprehensive procurement legislation in the Caribbean. I would say that this Bill should go forward and the Opposition should support it a s a positive measure in terms of enhancing the whole process of procurement.”

Guyana has come a far way in the procurement arena and has even won the respect of international agencies and organizations.

When this Administration took office there was no history of public procurement, as most of it was done through single sourcing and not in a transparent manner as done today. There were no advertisements for tenders in the newspapers and the engineer’s estimates were not made public.

“Today we have a large body of contractors that bid for contracts because the procurement process facilitates competition and by competition we have been able to bring down the costs of projects. This bill enshrines what has been taking place. It gives legislative effect to what the Government has done since 1992 in terms of public procurement. It is now a much more regulated system,” the Minister said.

Noteworthy also is the role the Auditor General now plays in the procurement process.

The Auditor General did not have a role to play in public procurement because he was not allowed to audit the public accounts of the country. Today he has a role to play in the procurement process.

Also, over the last decade tenders for the disposal of public assets have been advertised and all 65 of the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils are now, for the first time, fully engaged in public procurement.

The Procurement Bill 2003 was presented for its first reading in the National Assembly in June 2003, and is essentially a revised version of the Bill enacted in 2002. The Parliamentary Opposition, the Builders Group and other stakeholders raised concerns about certain clauses of the Bill both at the technical and policy levels. Consequently, consultations with these groups began.

Consensus has been reached on the Procurement Bill 2003 via the consultation process hosted by the Ministry of Finance with the Parliamentary parties, Builders Group and the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers (GAPE).

In an interview with GINA Ministry of Finance officials, who participated in the consultations, opined that the consultations were successfully conducted.

These officials said that many of the contentious issues were amicably explained. The Builders Group comprised of the Association of Consultative Engineering Services, Guyana Association of Professional Engineers, Quantity Surveyors Group, Institute of Architecture and the Contractors Association. Representing the Parliamentary parties were People's National Congress Reform Member James McAllister, Manzoor Nadir of the United Force and Sheila Holder of the GAP/WPA. Although invited, notably absent from the consultation was Leader of ROAR Ravi Dev. The Ministry of Legal Affairs draftsman was present at all the sessions.

The Parliamentary parties' concern was based on their interpretation of both the technical and policy aspects of the 2003 Bill. "At the technical level we have been able to explain to both the Opposition and Builders Group that what they were trying to look for in the Bill were some things that are better contained in Regulations. That was a major dialogue we had on how certain clauses of the Bill would be implemented. Because it is an Act, you cannot describe the implementation mechanisms there," one official said.

According to the official, the Regulations will naturally follow the Bill, but details of these have not yet been worked out. He anticipates the introduction of the Regulations by the end of the year.

"In a sense it is not changes as such, but explanatory or subsidiary legislation that has to follow in order to operationalize the Bill in many areas. And in the consultation we agreed on that. We reached consensus on that position," he added.

A major concern was about the policy issue of the Bill. According to one of the officials, Balgobin, the consultations narrowed substantially the main area of difference. That policy issue relates to the composition of the Public Procurement Board. The 2003 Bill states that the Board will comprise seven members - five public sector representatives and two from the private sector. "This is still a matter that is referred to the political level for some further discussions," he added.

The members of Public Procurement Board will be required to declare their assets before the country's Integrity Commission for transparency purposes. The Builders Group has expressed concerns about this requirement, since two persons from the Group will be sitting on the Board. Their argument is that since they do not have a fixed income because of the nature of their work, they do not have fixed salaries, and hence it would be difficult for the Integrity Commission to monitor their income and accumulation of assets versus their way of life. The Ministry of Finance advised that this would be a matter for dialogue with the Integrity Commission. This group is also calling for a 4-3 representation on the Board instead of the 5-2 as proposed in the new Law.

The Head of the Project Cycle Division said that the consultations to solve the technical issues have been concluded and it is now up to the political players to resolve the outstanding policy issue. "At the Administrative level we believe that we have been able to assure all parties that a number of their technical concerns could be and are better addressed in regulations," he said. In the Joint Communiqué signed by President Jagdeo and the Leader of the PNCR Robert Corbin on May 6, it was agreed that the Procurement Act 2002, would be amended shortly.

"The amended Procurement Bill fits in with the commitment by Government to move ahead with procurement legislation. It is part of the Communiqué," he said.

Simultaneous to the introducing of the Procurement Bill is the effort to establish a Public Procurement Commission comprising members of the two major political parties, as nominated by the Public Accounts Committee and approved by Parliament and then appointed by the President.

"We see both actions that we are taking as fulfilling the communiqué," the official said.

Another contention raised by the Opposition about the procurement in Guyana was the authority of Cabinet to award contracts. The official explained that a contract in excess of $15M has to get Cabinet's ‘no objection’ before it is awarded. "There is a very important distinction here. Cabinet will in no way determine who is awarded the project. Cabinet's purpose now is to ensure that the procedures leading to the award of that contract is in place. It will only be looking at it from the issue of procedures," he explained. The Procurement Bill 2003 will be debated tomorrow.

"We expect a fruitful debate and Members of the Opposition will have the opportunity to go through the Bill and whatever areas there are difficulties in, we can try and reach consensus. However, issues that are not dealt with in Law by this Bill can be dealt with by regulations. So in no way we should try to hold back this or keep this process or put a stop to it and wait on the Regulations. We feel that we can go ahead with this Procurement Bill and certainly work with the Opposition to have the regulations in place," he said.

Guyana's decision to reform its procurement sector stemmed from changes worldwide. According to the Ministry of Finance official, when the Financial Administration Audit Act was amended, the old Central Tender Board regulations were kept. Government found it necessary to have the country's Tender Board Regulations reformed. The reformation began way back with transparency as the main objective. Years ago, the President and the Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon invited the media to attend the tendering process.