PM: Procurement Act allows some non-competitive tenders

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. - File photo

THE Prime Minister has said the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act 2015 does in fact allow instances of a non-competitive tender awards in some circumstances.

Dr Rowley spoke in the House of Representatives on September 20 in reply to a question posed under Prime Minister's Questions.

Oropouche West MP Davendranath Tancoo asked if the Government intended to direct public bodies (ministries, statutory authorities and state enterprises) to use the competitive tendering award process instead of a single sole tender process, which he said appears to be widespread, as stated in the first annual report of the Procurement Regulator.

Rowley replied, "The operative word there is 'appears.'

"The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act provides very clear provisions for single sole select tendering in very specific instances.

"The Government expects that every ministry, statutory authority and state enterprise will abide by the provisions of the law."

The first Annual Report to Parliament (2023-2024) of the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) was laid in the House of Representatives on September 9.

It said in the past year some $5 billion in public contracts was not awarded by fully competitive tender/procurement methods.

It listed the non-competitive awards. In Q3 2023 this was 51 per cent of awards made and totalled $0.58 billion. In Q4 2023 it was 78 per cent of awards and was worth $1.48 billion. For Q1 2024, it was 70 per cent, to a value of $0.9 billion. By Q2 2024, it was a whopping 87 per cent, valued at $1.9 billion.

While the report said the act advocated "fairness, equity, and value for money," the OPR lamented “an excessive use of limited and non-competitive procurement methods."

It said, “Single and sole-source methods were frequently used, indicating a level of resistance to the use of open bidding methods by public bodies.”

However, the report also noted inadequate infrastructure plus technological, human and financial resources in public bodies to support the act.

The act states, "A procuring entity may limit participation in procurement proceedings to promote local industry development and local content."

On this topic, the Prime Minister earlier justified the selection of Gillian Bishop, as an eminent and experienced local jewellery designer, as the Government's choice of an artist to redesign the national coat of arms, to replace the three ships of explorer Christopher Columbus with a steelpan.