THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is moving to enhance its procurement process in order to reduce its overall expenses.

A procurement workshop, spearheaded by Central Tender Committee (CTC) Chairman, Mr. Keith Burrowes, was held at the SleepIn International Hotel on Brickdam, Georgetown on Friday. The event was attended by persons who deal with inventory and procurement, and other senior managers of the corporation.

Burrowes, who is also a Presidential Adviser, indicated that GuySuCo is experiencing some problems on the side of production; and that for this to be addressed, all means of reducing costs should be examined.

He related that the corporation’s procurement manual was done over last year so as to make it more transparent. Standard tender forms were also prepared, and one of the benefits of this is that the tendering process is now more transparent.

He also stated that it is now easier to detect discrepancies in approving tenders.

The CTC chairman indicated that he has been working continuously with the Management Information Systems (MIS) and Procurement departments, and visits were also made to most of the estates to ensure that the persons in those estates who deal with procurement fully understand their roles.

During Friday’s meeting, some critical issues came up, among which were ways in dealing with obsolete items. High among the desired outcomes is increased transparency of tenders.

Burrowes noted that the Procurement Department will now have additional reports for their decision making from the MIS Department. He stressed that the MIS Department will be working with more units to ensure availability of information for timely decision making.

During the meeting, targets were set in terms of cutting cost. Burrowes pointed out that, last year, due to some actions taken, GuySuCo was able to cut some $500M in costs. This year, the target to cut in costs is $1B.

He also emphasised that the Procurement Department would now be operating according to international standards.

Burrowes said that, as a result of the workshop, GuySuCo’s operations would be more transparent and the capacity of persons working within the Procurement Department would also be enhanced.

He related that there would be further engagements with the CTC and senior managers within the corporation, to look at areas in which costs can be cut.

He indicated that, following subsequent meetings, a white paper will be prepared and submitted to the board for its approval, adding that suggestions made by participants of the workshop will be included in the report.

He stressed importance of the Procurement Unit, noting that it must function, since the corporation must have certain items, lack of which could result in production being reduced.

Burrowes further noted that since each estate has a representative from the union, who sits on the committee, he intends to work with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) to ensure that the persons identified are capable of executing their duties.

Participation at the procurement workshop was very intense, since all the persons in attendance took part in the discussions, and a number of recommendations were made.
The CTC chairman said he is very confident that there will be significant reduction of expenditure as a result of this process.

He stated that while there are factors beyond the control of the entity, individual board members have been contributing in many areas, including in audits and procurement.

It is his view that the current GuySuCo Board is one of the strongest that the corporation has had, and he expressed satisfaction with the board’s interventions to address the production issues.

Burrowes said that unlike the views of certain persons, it is unfair to lambaste and criticize the board members, since a number of the issues affecting production were existing even before the current board was appointed.