Guyana’s procurement process stands out among in CARICOM – AG

THE Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, over the last two weeks, convened three regional consultations to discuss the findings of a major consultancy on government procurement in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). The first consultation kicked off in Jamaica last week, September 3, for that Member State and Belize. Also, Barbados hosted two days of follow up consultations, earlier this week, September 8 and 9. The final set of consultations will be held in Saint Lucia.
Commenting on local moves to improve the procurement process, the Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, in an invited comment, explained that while Guyana stands out among its Caribbean counterparts, there is always room for improvement.

“Guyana stands out in the CARICOM region as having the most advanced and most transparent procurement procedures.” – Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall

“Our procurement process is one that stands out…Guyana stands out in the CARICOM region as having perhaps the most advanced and most transparent procurement procedures…our procurement process is one that is always under scrutiny and there is always room for improvement,” he said.
The AG added that at a recent meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, the country was found to be using Guyana’s procurement process as a model.
“They are now laying a White Paper in their Parliament, in which they are discussing the promulgation of a Procurement Act that is similar to ours,” he said.
According to the AG, the local procurement process is not perfect and as such remains under the scrutiny of the public, the media corps, financiers and other stakeholders.
Additionally, as it relates to CARICOM’s efforts, country missions to 13 CARICOM Member States, excluding Haiti and the Bahamas, were undertaken from April to June 2014 by the consultants, Analysys Mason Ltd. This consultancy was to provide the CARICOM Secretariat and its Member States with the recommendations on required IT infrastructure for the establishment of a fully functioning Regional Integration Electronic Public Procurement System. The broader objective of this project is the liberalization and integration of the regional market for trade in goods and services. This is to establish and maintain a regime for the free movement of goods and services within the CSME.
The consultations are being facilitated by the European Union under the Tenth European Development Fund (10th EDF). The consultations will involve two-day meetings with both the public and private sectors in the host countries.
These consultations will be preceded by a meeting of the CSME Task Force on Government Procurement from 1-2 September 2014 at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica.

(By Vanessa Narine)