The government’s procurement website is back in operation though not fully functional, after being inaccessible for almost two weeks.
Yesterday, the site www.eprocure.gov.gy was accessible for the first time in 12 days although some of its sections were not fully activated. While there have been some changes in the site’s design, details related to past bids were not available.
At the time the website went down, Press and Publicity Officer in the Office of the President Kwame McCoy told this newspaper that the site had been hacked and efforts were being made to have it back up immediately. Two days before, www.lcds.gov.gy, the Low Carbon Development Strategy website was also reportedly hacked. In early November, the Government Information Agency’s (GINA) website www.gina.gov.gy was out of commission for several days.
Concerns have been raised about how the e-procure site’s failure would have affected the operations of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). A source within the Finance Ministry said that since the site was down, an alternative medium should have been used to publish notices. The NPTAB is not responsible for maintaining www.eprocure.gov.gy. The source said that bidders and prospective bidders would definitely have been affected by the site being down for almost two weeks.
The website was set up in August to host all government ads and notices, following the passage of an amendment to the Procurement Act in the National Assembly. Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon later said that the move was a cost-effective measure being implemented by the administration, given the costs associated with print media advertising.
