Big jump in registrations with Office of Procurement Regulation

DEPUTY chairman of the board of procurement regulations Robby Bhola, who is acting as the procurement regulator, on Monday welcomed the flurry of activity by various bodies who were busy registering with the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR).

This activity follows the recent full proclamation of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act 2015.

Newsday asked Bhola how he felt about a recent spate of paid press adverts by different bodies urging their contractors and suppliers to register with the OPR's procurement depository, as required by the act, which was proclaimed on April 26.

Bhola told Newsday, "There has been an uptick in the registration process by suppliers. Our resources are on our website, so once suppliers utilise the resources they shouldn't have any problem registering on the depository.

"The way we are handling it in the office is that we are pointing suppliers to the resources that are available and 99.9 per cent of the time once they look at those resources they will be sorted and they will be registered."

In Newsday's Monday paper, the Ministry of Social Development placed an advertisement which stated any party wishing to supply "goods, works and services" to it, must register at the OPR.

Newsday asked if the OPR was monitoring the number of bodies placing advertisements advising suppliers/contractors to get compliant with the act. Bhola said, "No, we would track the statistics from the depository, as opposed to the adverts on the outside."

Asked his general view of how the entire process was going, Bhola said, "The general attitude of everyone is really to adopt the act. Persons, public bodies and also suppliers are making the attempt to get registered.

"So on that basis we'd say it's going well. Once persons utilise the resources, the registration process will be a lot easier for them.

"No one is really coming to say 'we don't believe' or whatever. Based on the interactions we have had with public bodies and suppliers, they are taking the steps to get on the depository. They accept the new shift and are taking the steps to get registered."

He added, "It's an ongoing process. It will take a little bit of time for everyone."

Bhola said the general mood was that everyone is positive and things were happening.

"You are seeing an exponential number of requests to register. The activity on our website has increased exponentially."