THE Public Procurement Commission conducted a stakeholder meeting with public procuring entities at the Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown, on Tuesday.

According to a release, the attendees were permanent secretaries and heads of department from various ministries and government agencies with their procurement staff, and representatives of the Guyana Defence Force, Local Government Commission and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

The release stated that matters discussed during the meeting included recent legislative developments and their impact on the public procurement system, the requirement for submission of procurement plans, procurement expenditure and contract award information and areas of ongoing training for procurement staff.

“Clarifications were sought on the issues discussed and, at the end of the proceedings, the sensitisation programme was deemed by the participants to be most educative and highly successful,” the release said.

The lack of capacity through the shortage of trained staff has been an area of concern to most of the entities. This issue will be raised at governmental level to ensure that procurement departments in all entities are adequately staffed.

The Public Procurement Commission has identified several areas where training will be conducted, and will continue to engage with all entities to ensure that their procurement programmes are fully and effectively realised.