Eight candidates have been shortlisted for consideration as prospective commissioners for the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
The eight were selected from a list of 24 at a meeting yesterday of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members Jermaine Figueira and Gail Teixeira, who comprise a sub-committee tasked with shortlisting candidates for the five-member Commission.
Following the meeting yesterday, PAC Chairman Figueira said that those shortlisted would be considered by the full PAC, which would then recommend five nominees for appointment.
This process is expected to be completed during the new week providing that they are no unforeseeable events, he added.
Last Monday, Figueira said that the establishment of the commission was of the utmost importance to him and other opposition members and he committed to bringing the matter to finality by naming the nominees by the end of this year.
“Multibillion-dollar contracts have been given out by Cabinet and the role of the PPC is to play a pivotal role with respect to contracts being distributed. Aggrieved contractors can go and make their concerns be known. So, the perception out there is corruption is afoot with regards to a lot of these multi-billion dollar contracts that the government has been awarding. So, the onus is upon us to act and we believe in our actions to get this PPC would be the most important thing,” he emphasized.
Last Month, former Chairman of the Commission Carol Corbin voiced her concern that crucial reform work done could be at risk if the body was not reconstituted.
The life of the five-member commission ended last year October.
Corbin says that the body is too important to have the process stalled over political sparring and said she feared that money invested by the Inter-American Development Bank and human resource work put in will all go to waste.
Corbin pointed out that many of the staff members have departed as their contracts were “just left to expire,” which in turn saw work stalled. “All expertise built just discarded. Life in Guyana!” she lamented.
And with billions awarded in contracts for this year and no PPC, Corbin said that the only recourse available to an aggrieved bidder would be to file court action.
It is unclear if there have been protests from bidders this year as it was the PPC that would have informed on the number of cases it had received.
It is unclear what transitioning process will be allowed for when the National Assembly chooses the next five commissioners.
The Constitution provides that, “Subject to paragraph (2), members of the Commission shall be appointed for three years and shall be eligible for re-appointment, for one other term of office, not earlier than three years after the end of their first term. (2) Of those members first appointed, two shall hold office for four years.
It is the President who appoints the commissioners after the process of selection and approval by the National Assembly.
In October 2016, and more than 13 years after Guyana’s Constitution was amended to provide for the PPC, the procurement oversight body was established.
Corbin, Pasha, Emily Dodson, Ivor English and former Minister of Labour Nanda Kishore Gopaul were the first commissioners.
