Government’s failure to submit their nominees for the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) was cited again as the National Assembly yesterday adopted the report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the public accounts of Guyana for 2006.
Chairman of the PAC, Volda Lawrence noted that the PPC is an important body in securing and procuring items and must come into being. She pointed out that the Constitution – 10 years ago – says that there must be one.
Lawrence said that the government has shown no interest in bringing the PPC into being and this failure has stymied the work of the PAC. A problem arising out of the non-existence of the PPC is the non-compliance of Ministries and agencies at various levels with the public procurement Act and the breach of tender board procedures particularly the splitting of contracts, Lawrence said.
She noted that that many of the issues highlighted in the 2006 report have been overridden by time and events. Lawrence said that there continued to be various levels of non-compliance with the existing tender board regulations relating to the procurement of goods and services and undertaking of works, both capital and current, by some agencies. She cited that Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Regions, Three, Seven and Ten as those who disregard the Public Procurement Act.
Another “perpetual problem” is overpayment to contractors, Lawrence said. “This practice continues unabated. We are yet to hear of any Ministry or agency receiving a successful judgment against a single contractor or any officer being surcharged or disciplined for making substantial advances or payment upfront to contractors”. She said that the PAC has concluded after interviewing several accounting officers and staff of various ministries and agencies that “there is collusion between staff and contractors to defraud the Guyanese people of large sums of money”. Reading from the report, she said that: “The PAC recommends that officers and consultants who affix their signatures of completion in which overpayments are found should be sanctioned or surcharged where necessary”.
Commentary: It might be noted that the Guam Procurement Policy Office is the central authority for GovGuam procurement policy matters, with sole power to promulgate procurement regulations. It was established in 1983 when the Procurement Act was first adopted. See 5 GCA § 5102.
To my knowledge the Policy Office has instigated only one policy act, being the initial adoption of the Procurement Regulations about 25 years ago. Since then, it appears that there has been no constitution of the Office and no further policy consideration or implementation, notwithstanding other significant developments to Guam procurement law.
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