JCC, chambers: Amending Procurement Act must be reconsidered

MEMBERS of the business community have, after consultation, advised government against making its proposed amendments to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act in a joint statement on Thursday.

The amendments were debated and passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday and were being debated in the Senate on Thursday.

After discussions on the amendments, the group, chaired by the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC), said changing the act to remove the need for an affirmative resolution of Parliament before an exemption order could be issued by a finance minister would not be conducive to a transparent procurement regime.

The government's proposed amendment changes that requirement to allow for Parliament to regulate an exemption order by way of negative resolution.

The group also included The American Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Amcham), the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the TT Coalition of Service Industries (TTCSI) and TT Transparency Institute (TTTI)

On the amendments, the statement said, “We therefore do not support amending the act to allow for ministerial orders to be made subject to negative resolution of the Parliament.

"While we do acknowledge that there is a need to consider the threshold under which the act need not apply, we are not in support of such threshold being set at $1,000,000.”

It added that it appears as though the regulations already outline a process for public bodies to address the setting of such thresholds and so the amendment was not necessary.

“The group is of the view that legitimate challenges with the operationalisation of the act, as opposed to deficiencies of the act itself are being identified as justification for an attempt to amend the law. Consequently, we do not support mixing administrative issues to justify amending the law.”

It said while the group acknowledges the registering process might be difficult, the responsibility for pre-qualification lay with the procuring entities via their appointed procurement officers.

“However, we are of the view that this can be addressed by interaction with the OPR to ensure that the intent of the law is achieved without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. This will require the urgent recognition and implementation of specific procedures by several state agencies that must have the capacity to efficiently adhere to deadlines.”

The group also requested that Finance Minister Colm Imbert reconsider his position and instead further discuss the matter by consultations and agreement with the private sector and the OPR.

“Our respective organisations look forward to further discussion and an outcome which maintains the original intent of the procurement mandate and essentially achieves the objective of ensuring fairness, compliance and good governance."