Tag: Office of Procurement Regulation

Public Procurement Delays, part three

PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION IN PUBLIC WORKS AND PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND CONTRACTING

“…:29. Promoting the inclusion of anti-corruption clauses in all state and public-private-partnership contracts…”
— From the Lima Commitment ‘Democratic Governance against Corruption’ made at the Eighth Summit of the Americas in April 2018, to which Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory.

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Finance Minister Imbert responded at the post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday, 16 January 2020 to the pointed questions raised by the media on the unexplained delays in implementing the new Public Procurement system.  The Minister’s stated that he had only received a final position from the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) on 18 December 2019, which was too late to take action, given that Parliament had its last sitting for 2019 on 16 December. Continue reading “Public Procurement Delays, part three” →

Public Procurement Delays: the PPP aspect

This continues my series — Part 1 and Part 2 — on the unexplained and unacceptable delays in implementing the new Public Procurement system.  Those delays arise from the failure or refusal of the Finance Minister to settle the Regulations which are essential for the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) to be fully operationalised.

Despite his firm commitment on 22 February 2019 –

“…I remain committed to attaining full implementation of the Act in the shortest possible time and the Ministry of Finance will continue to work assiduously towards that goal…”

Continue reading “Public Procurement Delays: the PPP aspect” →

Public Procurement Delays, part two

As far as I know, there has been no response from Finance Minister Imbert to the points raised in the previous article. Of course, no response is required, but given the importance of the issue and the highly engaged communication style of that Minister, I certainly had cause for a pause.

This article will continue last week’s examination of the delays, but first, some background. The new Public Procurement system replaces the Central Tenders Board, so it is useful to note that although the CTB Act is a 1961 law, the first Board was not sworn-in until 1966 – a full five years after the law. Note well, too, that this was at a period when the CTB Act had the full support of the first PNM administration of Dr Eric Williams and the opposition forces were then a mere shadow of their current selves.

Given that background, what can we make of these delays in getting the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) up and running? Firstly, even though The Act is No. 1 of 2015, the first OPR Board was appointed two years ago, in January 2018, under the Chairmanship of Moonilal Lalchan.

 

tt-procurement-board
Board of the Office of Procurement Regulation sits with former President of the Republic, Anthony Carmona (front row, centre). Board Chairman, Moonilal Lalchan seated, second from left, front row. Other members of the Board include: accountant David Charliere, supply-chain manager Frederick Bowen, civil engineer Dr Anthony Lamb, attorney Robin Otway, procurement manager Herdis Lee Chee, Human resource expert Lara Quentrall-Thomas, civil engineer Sandra Sammy, project manager Nadine Bushell, and youth advocate Nikoli Edwards.

Continue reading “Public Procurement Delays, part two” →

AUDIO: Interview on Business corner on Power 102 FM – 5 March 2018

power102fmPower 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