The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) will use next week’s National Procurement Symposium to address persistent complaints by unsuccessful bidders who are not being notified, in keeping with the law, when contracts are awarded.
The Procurement Act stipulates that procuring entities notify bidders of contract awards in addition to making them public within seven days of the awards.
An NPTAB official explained to Stabroek News that while that agency facilitates the opening of tenders and is responsible for sending tenders after evaluation to Cabinet for its ‘no objection’, there is no legal mechanism in place that compels the agency to enforce the notification process. It is the duty of the procuring entities to carry out this process and as a result NPTAB will use the symposium to reiterate previous calls that this be done.
“There is nothing in the [Procurement Act] that we can do that would get the agencies to notify the
