Procurement regulations passed in Senate

The regulations for the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act was passed in the Senate on Tuesday.

The regulations were debated and voted on and will provide regulations to support the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act of 2015. These regulations included procedures for reviewing applications for procurement, the dismissal of applications, the duties of the office, regulations for submission and reply of applications for review, challenging procedures and regulations for hearings and collection of evidence in the challenging of a procedure.

In a tweet, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert suggested that the passing of the regulations would take TT to a better place when it came to procurement and disposal of public property.

“This clears the way for the implementation by the end of March of a new system of procurement in T&T with equitable and transparent rules and procedures,” Imbert said.

In his closing statements at the sitting on Tuesday, Imbert responded to some of the comments on the regulations, but said all comments and contributions were recorded and the points summarised, and will be examined to determine whether it would improve the legislation.

He said the Office of the Procurement Regulator will produce guidelines and a handbook to facilitate the transition into the implementation of the act which will take place within a six-month period. He also made the commitment that he would return to the Senate within that period to make any appropriate amendments to the regulations.

“One must understand that this is a work in progress. Contrary to the allegations made by the opposition, this is a tremendous advance in terms of transparency and accountability. Right now there are no regulations, so we are moving from zero.”