An online portal for the publishing of all awards of government contracts is currently being set up by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), as complaints continue over the secrecy of awards.
“It is an issue that came to me and I raised this issue as well that we are required to publish the awards as mandated by law,” Minister with responsibility for Finance Dr Ashni Singh told the Stabroek News, when contacted on the issue.
“For whatever reason they have not been publishing as is required. I raised this with the NPTAB Board and my position is that they must comply. It is to this end that they are currently working on an online portal to have this addressed. They will publish all things required by the Procurement Act,” Singh added.
Checks of the NPTAB website show a message advising that it is “under construction”.
A new website is also being created for the Ministry of Finance as only a “coming soon” message shows up on that site.
Bidders have long complained that after spending sometimes hundreds of thousands on bid documents and submitting tenders, contracts are awarded and they are given any reasons for the rejection of their bids.
Singh, who had held the ministerial portfolio prior to 2015, pointed out that the PPP/C previously had a process where the public was notified of large contracts at post-Cabinet press briefings, by then Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon.
Having lived abroad since 2015, Singh said that when he returned to Guyana and took up his current position he raised the issue of public notification and it was why he has urged NPTAB to address the issue swiftly. “Dr Luncheon used to announce the bigger contracts and the smaller ones used to be posted on NPTAB and I am not sure why that was stopped after the last government took office,” he noted.
Singh said that meetings are also scheduled with NPTAB and government procuring agencies to remind them of their legal and other commitments. Key among these will be informing all bidders of contracts as to the status of their bids. “I have instructed the Board to not only develop the online portal but ensure the requirements of the Procurement are met,” he informed.
