In a bid to source better quality equipment and improve the efficiency of electricity generation and distribution, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is reviewing its procurement policy, Chairman of Board Robert Badal has said.
“Remember, one of the teething problems within GPL was the procurement process. Sometimes everything had to go to open tender,” Badal told Stabroek News yesterday.
He pointed out that with the current system, sometimes there is an influx of items, which often results in loose inventory management.
The review of the procurement policy would see purchases on a quarterly rather than an annual basis, he said, while adding that the utility would instead give an annual commitment. He added that the new policy would result in the standardisation of the quality of items that are procured through the tendering process.
“A shop down the road can win a tender because of price and when it [the item] comes a different one comes or it doesn’t meet the international specifications and these kinds of things. So, we are going forward to more standardisation,” Badal said. If there is a need for items for either transmission and distribution or generation, he said, the utility would look at the best supplier, with the best track record, customer support, and warranty and continue to buy from them.
“Of course, you have to meet international specifications. So, every tender we don’t always have to go buy the cheapest. Sometimes, you would buy a connector from certain people and that would last three years and it goes bad and then you have to send a maintenance team out and it costs a lot of money. On the other hand, if you buy the same product from a reputable supplier, it could last for 25 years,” he said.
GPL would be looking to procure better quality products that they are comfortable working with.
He said the company was waiting on the National Procurement and Tender Board Administration to approve the revision of the policy, which when implemented will directly result in more efficiency in terms of generation and transmission and distribution.
In terms of adding more efficiency to the inner workings of the company, Badal also related that they are currently in the process of completing the computerisation of their main inventory system. “It was all manual before and with manual it’s not easy to look into things… by June we will run live. So that is a big step forward,” he said, while adding that good inventory management also ensures good cash flow management.
Additionally, the chairman related that even though the board endured some challenges during the year, they were able to strengthen their financial management system. “The first thing I did was to reorganise all of GPL’s financial assets by bringing all its collections into one consolidated fund,” he said. Badal explained that prior to the change, the company had accounts all over the country where the monies that were paid would remain. “What I did was every week, whatever money exists, it is transferred to one standing order consolidated account. Just like the government, GPL has a large consolidated fund,” he added.
He said it was okay the way it was, but there was no central account where all of the monies would be transferred, which was not “good money management. The treasury management aspect wasn’t being done and it wasn’t tidy having money all over the place and it’s the same principle with the government’s consolidated fund,” he said.
