Afra Raymond was interviewed this morning, Wednesday 23 September 2026, by Dale Enoch and Tony Lee on The Morning Show on i95.5FM to discuss the proposed amendments to the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act. On this day, the government will be debating the amendments in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament. Audio courtesy i95.5 FM
On 17th June 2026, the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) reportedly issued its formal Notice to halt the intended award of 11 contracts totalling $3.4 Billion to build 3,700 new homes for sale, on public interest grounds.
That announcement has triggered official statements on the HDC’s intention to get the process right and to deliver these badly needed new homes for sale. All sides are going to great lengths to satisfy the Office of Procurement Regulation’s (OPR’s) requirements, so that aspect certainly represents real progress. But those statements can only offer comfort if one ignores the reality of the HDC’s extensive waiting-list, in which over 90% of the applicants can only afford to rent.
Continue reading “Property Matters – Procuring State Housing – Part 4”
“…Whereas the People of Trinidad and Tobago—…(b) respect the principles of social justice and therefore believe that the operation of the economic system should result in the material resources of the community being so distributed as to subserve the common good…”
From the preamble of our Republic’s current Constitution (1976)
The simple truth is that the overwhelming majority of HDC’s applicants can only afford to rent, but nothing is being built for rent. That is the challenge we face in terms of realising the objectives of our Housing Policy.
I thought this would be a two-part analysis, but the final conclusions required a fuller treatment, hence this closing article to place those issues in a public policy context. My analysis led me to the conclusion that the HDC’s projects could not in any way have satisfied a proper needs assessment, as required by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act (PPDPPA). As such, this is a call for the OPR to engage these public policy issues with the required seriousness.
Fri, 12 Sept 2025
The Editor,
The second Procurement Compliance Plus (PC+) Lab on 10 September 2025 was focused on Procurement Governance, so it was a strong addition to this excellent training series for this important new legal arena. Although Procurement and Purchasing are long-established essential processes for any business, this is a novel field due to the significant changes arising from the Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Property Act (PPDPPA) 2015. The PPDPPA established effective new rules to oversee transactions in Public Money, with heavily punitive provisions, its most important feature being that oversight and penalties are now applicable to both named Public Sector Officials and Private Sector Suppliers and Contractors.
The interactive sessions were hosted by a cadre of outstanding professionals, led by the estimable Dr Margaret Rose, a long-time campaigner and educator in this field. I was a panellist, but it was also an opportunity for me to learn from and engage with a range of practitioners in this multi-faceted professional field.
Continue reading “Letter to the Editor – Public Procurement Progress?”The Editor,
The Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) Chairman’s position has been vacant since 11th January 2023, with no official indication as to when that vacancy is to be filled. The OPR is an important institution which needs capable and experienced leadership, so we need to have that appointment made without any further delay.
I am reliably informed that this important appointment is being actively considered, but we need to ensure that a sound decision is made in the public interest. The inaugural Regulator, Moonilal Lalchan, was appointed in 2018 after the job was advertised by President Carmona in 2017, so the precedent has been set to publicly invite applications for this position. (See advertisement below)
Mr Lalchan performed well, without any complaints or concerns being expressed, so his reappointment ought to be a priority if we are to operationalise this important new Office to defend the Public Interest. In the alternative, the President should activate a transparent process to appoint a suitable candidate without further delay. The Regulator’s post has been vacant since January 2023 and President Kangaloo took office three months ago, so this vacancy now needs to be advertised.
Thank you.
Afra Raymond
former JCC President
afraraymond.net
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.
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”
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…”
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.
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
