…procurement officers commence training

GUYANA’S weak public procurement system will be strengthened and upgraded in 2017 as

existing legislation will be reviewed to facilitate e-procurement while the website will be improved to satisfy timely posting of advertisement of procurement opportunities and awards.

This is according to National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) Chairman Berkley Wickham who was speaking Tuesday at the opening of four-day workshop on Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS). The event is being hosted at the Regency Suites Hotel, Georgetown.
E-procurement (electronic procurement) is the business-to-business or business-to-consumer or business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies, work, and services through the Internet as well as other information and networking systems, such as electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning.

Thirty participants drawn from all ten regions are participating in the certificate procurement training programme- level two. The programme is financed under the Inter-American Development Bank IDB Public Procurement Modernisation Programme and Financial Management Technical Assistance Programme for Guyana under the Ministry of Finance. The training is being facilitated by UNDP Procurement Specialist Rodofo Sanjurjo.

The NPTAB Chairman said two similar programmes involving 60 trainees from the public sector will be understaken in January 2017. In explaining the initiative aimed at changing the long held perception of a tainted public procurement process, Wickham said the difficulty of the task was never underestimated but its success is rooted in achieving transparency, accountability, fairness, integrity and efficiency.

“We are not there yet but significant advances have been made,” the Tender Board Chairman noted. In highlighting some of the advancements, the Chairman said there has been an increase in the threshold limits for regional, ministerial/agency tender boards; progress in developing a debarment procedure; functional Bid Protest Committee and the Public Procurement Commission has been established.
He said the programme is one component of an overall capacity building programme. This is a key element for improving efficiency and transparency of the procurement process.

Adding that pursuant to section 17 of the Procurement Act 2003, the NPTAB Chair said the board has been organizing training in public procurement and this year there has been enhanced expertise in procurement across the country to ensure knowledge of procurement policies and procedures are continually upgraded in line with best practices.

Wickham said recently two female procurement officers successfully completed a certification online programme in sustainable procurement provided by the Organisation of American States and also that a pilot programme in procurement planning was just completed in three of large ministries.

Focusing on some of the impacts and achievements of the present training, Wickham said the initiative will impact the following areas: (1) Bringing the current procurement regulation in line with best practices for 2017; (2) Strengthen the data base system to improve reporting requirements by far-flung areas of the country and facilitate analytical reporting on procurement which is required under the 2003 Act which has a January 2017 completion date. (3) A debarment procedure will be fashioned for implementation. (4) The CIPS Level two training is set to benefit 90 operatives in the procurement system. (5)The initiatives will prepare a strategy for the introduction of e-procurement along with improving the website.

He disclosed that there will be further training in February 2017 in contract compliance and management. Meanwhile, Senior Procurement Specialist Michael De Jonge in brief remarks said the first part of the programme was the preparation and dissemination of the certified training programmes which is done in three parts. “This is the first part involving the ten administrative regions of Guyana, the second and third quarts will involve procurement personnel from various ministries, agencies and departments and will conclude in the month of January,” he said.

Emphasising that the main objective of the training is to provide procurement officials and staff with a better understanding of the principles of effective public procurement, De Jonge said the mission is to promote and develop high standards for professional skills, ability and integrity. “This programme assures compliance with high international qualifications standard as well as offering participants access to the worldwide community of procurement professionals,” De Jonge said.

He told the participants that at the end of the programme they will have access to the UNDP sites. He said the programme has been customized for Guyana’s public procurement requirements. UNDP Procurement Specialist Rodofo Sanjurjo who has forty years of experience in procurement reiterated what was said but noted that the course will help to enhance the work of procurement officers tremendously.