–Harmon says Gov’t not excluding contractors from State projects

By Ariana Gordon
THE Government of Guyana on Wednesday said it is not in the practice of excluding contractors from State projects.“When it [a contact (s)] comes to Cabinet, it’s for Cabinet to say whether we object or we don’t object. Cabinet would not exercise that power to say who should get a contract or who should not get. We either say we object or we do not object,” said Minister of State Joseph Harmon.
With continuous complaints from contractors about the Government’s procurement process, the APNU+AFC coalition Government said it is examining ways of ensuring that small businesses and contractors benefit from the public procurement system.
Stating that 20 per cent of public contracts must be awarded to small contractors, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said a committee headed by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and including ministers of Public Infrastructure, Legal Affairs, Finance and Communities has been established to examine how small contractors can benefit.
Billions of dollars are spent on public contracts yearly and represents a significant per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In fact, the public purchase of goods and services here is estimated to account for 27 per cent of the GDP based on the country’s last budget.
“It was agreed that every effort will be made to give legitimate support to small contractors for their involvement in the public procurement process,” Minister Harmon told reporters on Wednesday at his post-Cabinet press briefing held at the Ministry of the Presidency.
He said Government will be enforcing the laws that speak to small contractors benefiting from 20 per cent public contracts and stressed that the APNU+AFC coalition Government is not in the business of deliberately omitting contractors from the procurement system.
He said qualification for a contract based on the Public Procurement Act is clear and those awarded would have met the requisite criteria.
Asked by reporters on the role Government plays when it comes to debarring defaulting contractors when public contracts were either improperly done or incomplete, Minister Harmon said the Procurement Act speaks specifically to how Government deals with the awarding of contracts.
“We do not deliberately exclude anybody, but at the level of the evaluation, the evaluators will make an initial determination as to whether in fact the person satisfies the requirements of the contract, and I believe their performance in previous contracts must be taken into consideration,” the Minister of State noted.
Last Thursday, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure hosted a one-day symposium for new contractors to educate them on the procurement process. At that forum, Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, said Government requires value for money when it awards contracts.
Procurement is critical to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s response to the country’s infrastructural needs, she said, with the hope that Government will attract more suppliers and contractors to deliver value- for- money works.
Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, said upon assuming his ministerial portfolio he had recognised that the ministry was inundated with persons who were interested in providing either goods or services.
However, they were unaware of the procurement process. The minister said there are many hurdles pertaining to the procurement process and references the distrust of the system and the lack of knowledge on the part of contractors.
Approximately $32B is available annually to contractors for Government projects.