Government will urge the Public Accounts Commit-tee (PAC) of Parliament to start the process of identifying nominees for the Public Procurement Com-mission (PPC) and hopes that the body will be in place by December but in the meantime, Cabinet will continue to exercise its “no-objection” to contracts, Minister of Govern-ance Raphael Trotman says.
Both APNU and the AFC, while in opposition, had lobbied for the removal of Cabinet’s “no-objection” role in the procurement process. Accord-ing to the Procurement Act, Cabinet shall have the right to review all procurements the value of which exceeds $15 million. However, once the PPC is commissioned, Cabinet’s no-objection powers will be phased out over time so as to decentralize the procurement process.
Article 54 (1) of the Procurement Act reads, in part: “The Cabinet and, upon its establishment, the Public Procurement Com-mission, shall review annually the Cabinet’s threshold for review of procurements, with the objective of increasing that threshold over time so as to
