By SEAN DOUGLAS Thursday, February 9 2012

THE Opposition should reconsider its boycott and rejoin the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC) on procurement reform, urged Winston Riley of the Private Sector/Civil Society Group on Procurement.

The group — representing TT’s contractors, engineers, architects and quantity surveyors amongst others — held a news conference at the Hilton Trinidad yesterday.

Riley urged both Government and Opposition each clearly state their views on procurement reform. Further he called for the JSC sittings to be held in public, rather than behind closed doors as now obtains.

He said public hearings of such temporary JSCs had in fact already once before been held in public, and the committee is free to make its own rules so as to allow this to occur again.

Riley made a call for the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition to meet his group so as to try to bring greater clarity and transparency to the process of reforming procurement legislation. He urged Opposition Leader Dr Keith Dr Rowley to state what his terms are for rejoining the JSC, which the Opposition is boycotting to protest an alleged disparity between the words of the Government and their actions in respect of seeking interested parties to participate in the Light Rail Project and the Invaders Bay Project. Riley asked for Rowley to clarify the Opposition’s stance on the White Paper created by the former PNM administration, but which was then sidelined by them. He said procurement reform would help combat corruption and ensure TT gets the best value for its expenditure of public monies.

Joint Consultative Council head Afra Raymond said the issue of procurement also includes the question of a needs assessment, that is, does TT actually need a Light Rail, and if so, to transport how many persons? He scoffed at the notion of the Ministry of Planning seeking expressions of interest for Invaders Bay, saying this was like a medical doctor asking his patient what treatment to apply.

TT Transparency Institute former head, Boyd Reid, made the point procurement deals with no just acquisition of public assets but also their disposal, such as the allocation of lands at Invaders Bay.

Riley said the process now being used at Invader Bay is a violation of ‘recommendation #17 of the Uff Report.