– Procurement Bill to change government advertising process
THE National Assembly on Thursday saw the introduction of two new pieces of legislation: one seeking to bring the New Building Society (NBS) under the licensing and supervision of the Bank of Guyana and the other changing the way the government advertises for public procurement of goods and services.
The New Building Society (Amendment) Bill 2010 seeks to amend the New Building Society Act to bring it into conformity with the Financial Institutions Act 1995. Clause 2 seeks to amend section 2 of the Principal Act to include in the interpretation action the definitions of certain terms.
The two pieces of legislation were tabled in Parliament by Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.
Clause 3 of the NBS Bill seeks to amend section 3 of the Principal Act to limit the society to acquire, hold and lease land and other property subject to the provisions of the Financial Institutions Act.
Clause 18 of the bill seeks to repeal section 28 to 30 of the Principal Act because the dissolution and winding up of the society shall be conducted in accordance with Part 8 of the Financial Institutions Act 1995. The bill also seeks to increase the value of bond certificates that may be transferred giving the board unfettered discretion to fix the transfer fee.
In addition, it seeks to increase the maximum amount that could be secured by a bond certificate without the consent of the minister. Clause 16 seeks to amend section 26 (2) of the Principal Act so as to increase the fine to $50,000 for any person paying or accepting a gift, bonus, commission or benefit for or in connection with any loan made by the society or to purchase any shares of the society.
The Procurement (Amendment) Bill will amend the Principal Act of 2003 so that in addition to advertising in the press, the government will also be placing its advertisement for the procurement of goods and services on a website that will be accessed for free.