– Finance Minister
MORE than 150 accounting officers and sub-accounting Officers from all Government Ministries, departments and sub-accounting agencies yesterday participated in a consultation hosted by the National Procurement and Tender Administration held at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal.

Some of the participants at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Consultation yesterday.

He said that the forum is intended to send a clear signal of the importance of ensuring that maximum returns are achieved from the Government expenditure. “This issue has been elevated at the highest level of consciousness, awareness and seriousness in Government as is evident by the importance the President himself has placed on it,” Dr Singh said.

Re-emphasising the importance of standardising the procurement procedure and tender documents, the Finance Minister said it is important that from the designing of the project to the monitoring and evaluating stage, strict enforcement of the terms and conditions of the contracts should be employed to maximise effectiveness in public expenditure.

Reminding the accounting and sub-accounting officers of their responsibilities to ensure that the legal requirements are observed on all projects, the Finance Minister said Government’s accounting officers have a legal and managerial responsibility in this regard.

“Permanent Secretaries have a legal responsibility to ensure that legislation such as the Procurement Act and the fiscal Management and Accountability Act are implemented as written in law,” he warned.

The Finance Minister advised that they should use the forum to seek clarification and ensure that they leave with a clear understanding of their responsibilities.

Dr Singh reminded the officers that though they may delegate accounting functions, the responsibility for accounting for government funds released to their respective agencies was theirs.

He said, too, that evaluation of the performance of Permanent Secretaries in executing their legal function as Government accounting officers is being given prominence as criteria, which includes their compliance with the various financial regulations and laws, is already being drawn up.

The Finance Minister said previous efforts to implement a standardised bidding document were unsuccessful. He attributed this to the unsuitability of the document to be adapted to the varying types of contracts undertaken by the various Government Ministries, departments and agencies. He assured that the present document would remove some of the latitude, discretion and inconsistencies in the issuance and monitoring and evaluation of contracts, while reducing the possibility of audit queries.

Some of the agencies represented at yesterday’s consultation included, Government ministries, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Guyana Water Incorporated and Guyana Oil Company. (GINA)