THE National Procurement and Tendering Administration Board (NPTAB) evaluators are likely to receive a pay hike.
Currently, the evaluators, who review bids ranging into the millions, are paid $3,000 per bid, but according to Board Chairman Berkley Wickham, this fee will soon be increased. However, he was unable to give specifics. “I have spoken to the minister about it. It will be raised. I am sure it will be raised,” Wickham assured reporters on Thursday on the sideline of an orientation for potential evaluators. The orientation was organised by the NPTAB, Ministry of Finance.
However, he made it clear that becoming an evaluator should not be about the money. “People can be influenced regardless of what they are paid. The money that is being paid, is not being paid to…ascertain people’s honesty, it is just to defray any expenses they may have,” he said.
The NPTAB Chairman added, “It is not based on how much you get, it is based on your integrity and your willingness to participate in something worthwhile.”

Meanwhile, during the opening ceremony of the orientation, Wickham emphasised that the tenets of Guyana’s public procurement system must be upheld, noting that the country’s performance in this area has national and international implications.
The key principles that govern the process of evaluation of tenders are: non-discrimination, equal treatment, transparency and confidentiality.

“How well a country performs in public procurement has international implications in terms of our relations with other countries – donor countries and loan countries. So, it is important that we do public procurement in a manner that can stand scrutiny and is totally transparent,” he told the potential evaluators who had gathered at the Police Officers Training Complex in Georgetown for the orientation.
In a detailed presentation, the NPTAB Chairman explained that public procurement is the process by which a government identifies the needs of its country, and provides solutions by acquiring the necessary goods and services through financial contractual agreements.
It was noted that the awarding of contracts for the needed goods and services, based on a pre-determined criteria, is also an important part of the procurement process. The entire process, he lamented, is critical to the country’s economic development.
“Public procurement in Guyana has been estimated in the order of 20-30% of GDP, due to the fact that we have a comparatively weak private sector and Government has had to act as a primary economic driver,” Wickham explained.

He told the potential evaluators that there are three key concepts and guiding principles of public procurement which are aligned to the Guyana Procurement Act 2003. These are: maximising economy and efficiency in procurement; fostering and encouraging participation in procurement proceedings by suppliers and contractors regardless of nationality, thereby promoting international trade; and promoting competition among suppliers and contractors of goods, services or construction to be procured.
NPTAB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Donald De Clou, who was also part of the early morning orientation, walked the close to 80 potential evaluators through the operations of the Tender Evaluation Committee. Evaluators are usually drawn from the public sector. Once the potential evaluators indicate that they are interested in becoming evaluators, advance training would be provided.
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