The PNCR says it intends to work relentlessly to secure the removal of what it calls ‘objectionable provisions’ contained in the Procurement Bill (No.7 of 2003) which was passed in the National Assembly on June 19 instead of being referred to a Special Select Committee.

This was disclosed yesterday by PNCR member Jerome Khan who read an official statement during the party’s weekly press briefing held at its headquarters at Congress Place, Sophia.

He said that on July 31, the party submitted a motion to the Speaker of the National Assembly calling for the procurement legislation to be sent to the Parliamentary Committee for Economic Services to ensure that the bill can effectively fulfill its objectives as stated in the “Whereas Clause” and that it does not undermine the Constitution. The motion that the PNCR put forward also allows for the legislation to benefit from inputs from members of the public, political parties, civil society organisations, expert studies and experiences from other countries.

According to Khan, the party had already informed the nation that PNCR leader Robert Corbin had written to President Bharrat Jagdeo on the issue, pointing out the serious threat to the stability of inter-party relations in Guyana posed by the procurement issue.

The party, Khan said, has also met and discussed with members of the donor community the matter of the procurement bill. At the invitation of members of that community, the party submitted a document setting out the party’s detailed amendments to the bill.

In a letter accompanying that document, the party stated: “...our proposals recognise the critical role of the government in the public procurement system, particularly through the selection of members to the National Board, the exercise of its right to reject all tenders and its responsibility to make regulations which give faithful regard to the provisions of the law.”

The party in the letter proposed that all provisions in the procurement legislation that undermine the constitutional mandate of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) be removed.

The PNCR is also calling for the PPC to be the first stop in the bid review process. It also wants a tempering of the discretionary powers of the procuring entities in the bid evaluation process.

The party recommends too that the list of procurement records that procuring entities must prepare be expanded and made available to the public.

The PNCR says it is in no doubt that its positions on the procurement issue are principled and reasonable. “We have made our specific objections known at parliamentary and other forums. We do not find it surprising that other local stakeholders share our positions on the flawed nature of the procurement legislation,” the party said. (Johann Earle)