The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has re-advertised for a Chief Executive Officer.
The re-advertising comes after the PPC reviewed the proposed salary and benefits for the CEO. The earlier package had been rejected by parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The advertisement in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek said that candidates should possess a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Finance, Procurement, Economics or a related field. They should have at least 10 years’ experience in a senior administrative managing multidisciplinary teams, among other things. The candidate should also have demonstrated an understanding of the public procurement system, challenges and potential improvements to heighten transparency and effectiveness.
The closing date for applications is November 14 and along with CVs they should be submitted to the Chairperson, Public Procurement Commission, 262 New Garden Street, Queenstown.
“[As it pertained to] the CEO, they haven’t approved the proposed benefits, so they have advised that we should go back out and re-advertise…in the new month we will be looking to re-advertise for the CEO,” Chairperson of the PPC Carol Corbin told Stabroek News in an interview in September about the PAC’s position on the matter.
In June, PAC Chairman Irfaan Ali had told this newspaper that the committee had submitted its recommendation to the PPC for comment but had received no feedback.
Stabroek News understands that among the recommendations is that the CEO be paid no more than $700,000 a month, while the Head of Corporate Services and Head of Operations were to be paid no more than $500,000 a month.
Corbin said in September that she did not know the reason why the proposed remuneration and benefits for the CEO were rejected but surmised that maybe “What we were proposing was maybe exorbitant.”
Asked if the Commission would scale down the benefits and resubmit a new proposal, she replied in the affirmative.
The PPC last year advertised the positions, while stating that it would be unable to begin its work until these positions were filled. The PPC has already addressed several matters before it including a probe of the purchase of $632m worth of drugs by the Georgetown Public Hospital.
