OPPOSITION politicians and their allies continue to criticise Guyana’s procurement system even as contractors say they have no discrepancies and the government defends the system as the most comprehensive in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

In a television documentary ‘Focus’ that sheds the spotlight on the operations of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), the views of

contractors were solicited to ascertain their impressions of the body that was set up in 2003 to scrutinise, appraise and offer recommendations to contract bids.
Alliance for Change (AFC) leader Khemraj Ramjattan and Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram, two well known critics of the government were featured in the documentary, sharing thoughts on the process that were contrary to those of contractors.
The Procurement Act of 2003 paved the way for the establishment of the NPTAB which is tasked with evaluating tenders and implementing policies in accordance with regional and international standards.
Bid documents are scrutinised by about 15 evaluators, who, Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh described as a cadre of technical personnel drawn from a diverse range of professional backgrounds. They are required by the Procurement Act to conduct the evaluation in six days.
Upon approval, the contract is submitted to Cabinet for a no objection and once given the green light, an award notice is issued which paves the way for the final stage where the relevant ministries finalise the deal.
The tender board, according to Minister Singh, is a bureaucratic structure that has influenced a “very strong transparent procurement system” but political opponents who favour the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC), claims the current system is riddled with favouritism, corruption and inequality.
Ram argued against the NPTAB falling under the purview of the Ministry of Finance and claimed that there are numerous loopholes in the procurement process.
Ramjattan who pointed to complaints in the past of substandard contract works on the country’s roads and bridges, considers a transparent system to be the Public Procurement Commission that would include a broad spectrum of national representatives versed in the law, accounting, auditing and quality surveying.
The Finance Minister however, argued that the team of evaluators in the tender board has met those qualifications.
“The board doesn’t act in an uninformed, unsupported, un-researched manner. The board is supported by rigorous technical evaluations,” Minister Singh said.
Politicians have been at odds over the establishment of the PPC with both sides pointing fingers over cooperation and nominations.
Presidential Adviser on Governance Gail Teixeira who was featured in the documentary however, explained that the nomination process has not always been smooth sailing, since it depends on the interest of the nominees and the understanding that the job is fulltime.
The absence of a commission has however, not been an impediment to the procurement process, since according to Teixeira, contractors who feel that they have been wronged are allowed the option of lodging a complaint or moving to the courts.
“If it’s a foreign funded programme…as soon as they (contractor) make that complaint, whether they are right or wrong, the whole funding is held up for six months until that funding agency examines all the issues in relation to it,” Teixeira explained.
The two contractors that the producers of ‘Focus’ interviewed, BK International and Courtney Benn General Contracting Services found the current procurement system to be transparent and fair.
Courtney Benn, the General Manager of CB General Contracting Services, said he is generally impressed with the mechanisms in the procurement process and after being disqualified from a $100M contract that his company had bid for, said he was satisfied with the explanation given by the Ministry of Housing.
BK International, the company that has won contracts for extensive sea defence works throughout the country believes that its fortune rests in the company’s ability to meet most of the pre-qualification requirements.
The company’s Public Relations Consultant, Kit Nascimento said the procurement process is transparent and is meeting the expectations of contractors who demand nothing less than fairness from the system.