Procurement commission to be up in weeks – Foreign Minister

TIMES INT'L

The Public Procurement Commission is to be established by the end of June 2012, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett told the National Assembly a few days ago.

The minister was at the time commending members of the opposition for rising in support of a government motion for the ratification of the Cariforum-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The establishment of a procurement entity is a requirement of the EPA to which Guyana signed on to in October 2008. Minister Rodrigues-Birkett noted that the Procurement Commission has been the subject of discussion in the talks between the opposition and government.

Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett

It was also included in the demands made by the opposition during talks on the budget cuts. Both the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/ C) and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) are to submit the names of their nominees for seats on the commission.

The government had agreed to fast-track the establishment of the commission, and it is expected that both parties will have their nominees selected within a fortnight. The commission is expected to comprise experts in procurement, legal, financial and administrative matters.

Additionally, the establishment of the commission will see it working alongside Cabinet to review all matters related to procurement. While Cabinet has the right to review all procurements that exceed Gy$ 15 million, it will now conduct those reviews on the basis of a streamlined tender evaluation report to be adopted by the commission.

Both bodies will also review annually Cabinet’s threshold for evaluation of procurements, with the objective of increasing that threshold over time. This will gradually phase out Cabinet’s involvement and decentralise the procurement process. Further, if Cabinet wishes to object to the award of a procurement contract, it can do so only if the procuring entity failed to comply with applicable procurement procedures. The matter shall however, be referred to the procuring entity for further review.

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