This is part of the Government’s strategy to reform the public sector, said Christine Sahadeo, Minister in the Ministry of Finance.
She noted that the current legal and regulatory framework for procurement only focused on the tender process of the procurement cycle.
“By so doing, it manifests a narrow view of procurement, which governs the design of the procedures, the scope of activities regulated and the application of the law, which is largely confined to ministries and departments,” she said.
And while the Central Tenders Board has fulfilled its mandate, it has several shortcomings, she said. Those include:
The impact of public/private sector partnerships in government business;
The impact of information technology resulting in the need for the re-engineering of processes;
The significance of public procurement in the development of local business; and
The lack of review mechanisms for aggrieved persons and regulatory oversight.
But e-auction should take the procurement chain to a new level to ensure that a company gets real value for money, she said.
“A critical element of the e-auction is that it lays open the procurement process to scrutiny every step along the way.
Once proper procedures are followed, there will be transparency and proper accountability,” she said.
The Nassau Guardian
