Power 102.1 FM interview with Ms Sandrine Rattan on e-tendering within the new Public Procurement system with Afra Raymond, Moonilal Lalchan, Chairman of the Office of Procurement Regulation and Keino Cox, Chairman of TSTT’s Tenders Committee. Audio courtesy Power 102 FM
- Programme date: Monday 5th February 2018
- Programme length: 00:09:06 and 00:16:16
AfraRaymond.net 
The amalgamation of procurement processes and e-commerce in T&T is definitely a step in the right direction. However, as citizens become more schooled in ICT, as social media affords us a doctorate in almost every form of foul practice which facilitates cybercrime and as the world wide web exposes us to the most adroit hackers internationally, after listening to this commendable interview Afra, I have some major concerns.
At present Trinidad and Tobago has made a toe print with ICT regulation evident in the e-commerce Act No. 6 of 2011 :
http://rgd.legalaffairs.gov.tt/laws2/alphabetical_list/lawspdfs/22.05.pdf.and there is still a lot more that needs to be done as we have:
No Laws to prohibit cybercrime
No Laws to regulate spam
No Laws that require consumers to be explicitly informed of the existence and impact of any applicable technical protection measures applied to digital products
No Laws that protect consumer’s privacy in relation to online transaction (personal data protection)
No Regulatory body on ICT and multimedia
No specialised alternative dispute resolution mechanism for consumers of telecommunications
No specialised alternative dispute resolution mechanism for e-commerce transactions
No Legal provision for a cancellation period that applies to consumer contracts entered into online
No Legal provisions on copyright exceptions that allow consumers to move e-books, music or videos between their own devices.
The absence of some of the above, if not all of the above, leads me to think that this move and further contemplation towards e-commerce tendering, ahead of ICT regulation, would in fact create more grounds for even more corrupt practices in procurement.
Even with the assumptions made that:
1.Cyber security is at its best and all such considerations were made in the design of the software
2.The new Procurement Board has already thoroughly identified all of the loopholes in the procurement process which facilitates crime
Can we say with certainty that any breach or attack on the e-commerce tendering system can be legally addressed here in T&T?
So as much as I understand that wastage and inefficiencies in the process would be addressed by the use of the software at hand, I firmly believe that the implementation of this measure should have been preceded by at least simultaneous to ICT regulations, which meet globally expected standards of consumer protection.
Ms. Patrick sums up the concerns quite concisely. Also I would love to be assured (as an ordinary member of the public) that ALL loopholes in the procurement process are plugged.
Indra, the issues raised by Ms Patrick are relevant and can be addressed within the Procurement Regulations which are now being crafted…indeed, there is scope for those Regulations to be updated as and when new issues arise…