Having completed the online portal for the posting of all government contracts, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) will officially launch it at a seminar for Permanent Secretaries and their procurement support staff in the next two weeks.
“It is completed and we are awaiting the formal launching, which is expected to be after the Easter Holidays. We are programming a seminar with all the Permanent Secretaries and their procurement staff,” Chairman of NPTAB Tarachand Balgobin told Sunday Stabroek when contacted for an update.
It was Minister of Finance Dr Singh who last month announced that the online portal for the publishing of all awards of government contracts was being set up by the 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,” Dr Singh had previously told this newspaper when he had been 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,” he added.
Bidders have long complained that after spending sometimes hundreds of thousands on bid documents and submitting tenders, contracts are awarded and they are not given any reasons for the rejection of their bids.
Bemoaning a system which has long left bidders out of the loop on what happened to their tenders, some contractors had further complained and urged that given the global COVID-19 pandemic, when most institutions have gone virtual, it would be more practical to have the information online.
Balgobin said that the current administration of NPTAB understands how vital it is, not only for abiding by the Procurement Act but also giving bidders the opportunity to know what was the outcome of tenders submitted, while at the same time empowering them also to correct areas that may have led to their tender being deemed non-responsive.
It is anticipated at the meeting of the Permanent Secretaries and procurement staff that they will be given refresher training on what is required of procurement agencies.
