Scotland calls for public procurement road map
Written by Clint Chan Tack on January 17, 2025
PORT of Spain South MP Keith Scotland says the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR) should develop a road map which will have the effect of ensuring entities comply with public procurement regulation and simultaneously facilitate an ease of doing business.
He made this suggestion during a meeting between members of the Parliament’s Finance and Legal Affairs Joint Select Committee (JSC), officials from the OPR and Finance Ministry on January 17.
Scotland asked them whether compliance with the legislation and an ease of doing business was happening since the legislation was passed in 2018 and fully proclaimed in May 2023.
Khan said, “The system as it is now operating , is not facilitating the ease of doing business because the environment in which the system is operating was not ready for it.”
She told JSC members this was normal in other countries when public procurement reform.
“It was a significant change from what existed before under the Central Tenders Board (CTB) Act.”
Khan said, “This new regime requires procuring professionals or offices, not to treat procurement as a transaction but as a strategic endeavour.”
Considerable thought is involved in such an exercise.
She said, “It moved away from being under the CTB rules base to now being principle-based.”
The latter refers to good governance principles.
Khan said, “We have a situation as well where readiness to operate under the new legislative framework is sadly lacking.
She added, “We do not have the human resource capacity as it stands now, throughout the public bodies to be able to engage with the system in a meaningful way.
State enterprises and statutory bodies have in large measure been able to meet the requirements of the legislation.
Khan said, “Systems have not changed particularly in (government) ministries and departments in terms of how do you follow the process of the new public procurement.”
This, she continued, created a situation of no procurements taking place shortly after the legislation was proclaimed.
“Everything stifled.”
Khan said many people did not know what to do and the system did not allow progression.
“That is the situation that the OPR has had to regulate.”
She told JSC members, the OPR has been taking steps to train people about the new procurement legislation.
Scotland asked Khan to provide the JSC with a template of how to address the challenges she described.
“You must know where the lacuna lies.”
He said, “Could you then prepare something? A road map having utilised your experiences, the resources of the Ministry of Finance.”
In the short term, Scotland continued, this could balance compliance with the legislation and the ease of doing business.
He added business people may be reluctant to investing in TT, if the processes to do so are viewed as onerous.
“We don’t have time. It does not make us attractive to external investors. Even local investors.”
Scotland repeated a road map for public procurement could in the short term “improve the ease of doing business whilst of course, being compliant with the act.”
Khan told him, “Absolutely member. In fact, we are already on the road that we have identified.”
She identified the establishment of compliance/monitoring and data analytics units at the OPR and hiring of experienced investigators as two examples of the OPR’s current activities.
Khan said the latter come from local law enforcement and it requires effort to encourage them to join the OPR.
She added the OPR’s current staff complement is 78 but it needed to be doubled for the office to better perform its duties.
Khan estimated the road map which Scotland alluded to could take approximately two months to develop.
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