The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is notifying all public procurement agencies of the legal requirement to submit copies of their procurement manuals so that their plans can be reviewed and approved.
The PPC is responsible for “determining the forms of documents for procurement including, but not limited to procurement manuals, guidelines and procedures – Section 17(2) (b) (v) of the Procurement Act, Chapter 73:05… Public procuring entities are therefore reminded of their obligation to submit all procurement manuals, guidelines and procedures to the PPC for review and approval,” a notice last Sunday from the PPPC in the state owned Guyana Chronicle read.
“The commission urges you to submit your procurement manuals, guidelines and procedures in a timely manner to ensure compliance with the law, established standards and to facilitate a streamlined procurement process,” it added.
It referred also to a Circular (No7/23) which had been sent out. (https://ppc.org.gy/pwc/media/Circular-No.-07-2023.pdf)
With regard to the functions of the PPC, the Act states that the role was for the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), pending the establishment of the PPC. “The National Board shall be responsible for exercising jurisdiction over tenders the value of which exceeds such an amount prescribed by regulations, appointing a pool of evaluators for such period as it may determine, and maintaining efficient record keeping and quality assurance systems,” the PPC Act states.
“(2) In addition, pending the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, the National Board shall be responsible for – (a) making regulations governing procurement to carry out the provisions of this Act; (b) determining the forms of documents for procurement including, but not limited to – (i) standard bidding documents; (ii) prequalification document iii) contracts; (iv) evaluation forms; and (v) procurement manuals, guidelines, and procedures; (c) organising training seminars regarding procurements; (d) reporting annually to the minister on the effectiveness of the procurement processes, and recommending therein any amendment to this Act that may be necessary to improve the effectiveness of the procurement process; (e) as provided for in section 53, upon request, reviewing decisions by the procuring entities; (f) adjudicating debarment proceedings.”
No deadline was given for the submissions but agencies can contact the Commission at its New Garden Street Office or via its telephone numbers and email address.
Guyana’s Procurement Planning Manual can be found on the NPTAB’s website.
It highlights that procurement planning is undertaken as part of the programme/service planning process.
The document states: “The primary concept of procurement is that advanced planning, scheduling and bulk purchasing result in cost savings, efficient business operation, and increased value for money. The public sector is expected to use procurement planning as an opportunity to evaluate/review the entire procurement process so that sound judgments and good decision making will facilitate the success of the overall project implementation in the procurement of goods, works and services.”
In 2015, the APNU+AFC had developed a Budget Transparency Action Plan (BTAP) with the objective of improving the budget process and more generally of enhancing transparency and accountability.
Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran had assessed the plans as he noted that the BTAP contained 14 items, of which the advancing of the accountability cycle was perhaps the single most important item.
“Item 5 of the BTAP requires all budget agencies to prepare comprehensive procurement plans in support of their budgetary allocations, and to publicise them in the media and government websites with effect from the fiscal year 2017. The objective is twofold. First, it provides a reasonable and objective basis as well as the necessary justification for the allocation of resources, rather than indulging in a mere number crunching exercise to arrive at figures for the individual items in the budget. Second, by publicising procurement plans, prospective suppliers and contractors are alerted well in advance of the procurement requirements of ministries, departments and regions so that they can prepare themselves to offer their materials and services by the time the advertisements are placed in the media,” he had explained in a May 2018 column on transparency.
He had said that procurement plans were not a mere shopping list of items required or services needed. “They must be based on precise and concise technical specifications of items, detailed enough to enable individual items to be costed using the latest available estimates of costs to arrive at the dollar value to be reflected in the budget. Procurement plans should be phased at least on a quarterly basis and should reflect the categorization of items by authority levels and limits, such as Ministerial/Departmental Tender Board, Regional Tender Board, National Procurement and Tender Administration Board involvement, and Cabinet review,” Goolsarran expressed.
“They must distinguish between local procurement and overseas procurement. The latter can take several months, depending on the availability of the items and the length of time it takes to ship the items. For projects that are funded by lending agencies, such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, due regard must be had of the time it will take for ensuring compliance with the procurement rules/guidelines of those organisations (which are far more detailed), and for the necessary no objection to be given in relation to the proposed award of the contract,” he added
He had also pointed out that proper consideration must be given to minimum stock levels, reorder levels and quantities, and procurement lead times and that care must be exercised to ensure that procurement activities are such that they do not lead to an excessive build-up of stocks which can result in slow movement, deterioration and eventually obsolescence, with consequential financial loss to the organisation.
“Account must also be taken of the time between the issuing of purchase requisitions, advertisement, assessment of bids/tenders by the relevant tender committee, and the award of the procurement contract,” he said.
