Trinidad and Tobago Chamber hosts seminar for members on Procurement Act

Recently, president of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce Kiran Maharaj addressed the issue of businesses registering under the Public Procurement Act, which she described as having many grey areas.

To alleviate these problems and make the process smoother, the chamber hosted a seminar led by former procurement regulator Moonilal Lalchan on June 15 at its Westmoorings headquarters.

The seminar was meant to help the chamber’s members and Lalchan answered many questions and concerns. He also spoke on the ins and outs of the Procurement Act and how owners can register their businesses for prequalification through the Office of the Procurement Regulator’s procurement depository site.

Lalchan told the audience there are potential savings for TT if procurement processes are followed.

“The World Bank did a study that suggested that the country is either developing or has development status," he said, adding that 13.06 per cent of the money spent on the gross domestic product (GDP) "is averaged to be spent on procurement activities.”

He explained that businesses that work closely with government organisations must register, since those organisations fall under the act.

Lalchan added that businesses that deal with public money must also be registered. Public money refers to money that has been collected through the State, usually from taxes.

He brought up the issue of expired pharmaceuticals within the health sector.

“Pharmaceuticals were being bought and there is approximately $89 million in expired pharmaceutical drugs – sitting, expired and procured for whatever reason and not used.”

He said another issue brought to his attention was a business owner trying to prequalify, but after more than 30 attempts and over $43,000 spent, he was not prequalified.

After the seminar, Lalchan showed the chamber members how the OPR website works and reassured them that once they upload their documents, only authorised people can download them.