A number of upgrades are set for the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for this year, according to Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh.
This was revealed by the Minister during his presentation of the 2022 budget last Wednesday where he said that the government intends to continue adhering to stringent principles of transparency and governance in public procurement.
As such the minister stated that this year the government will strengthen the public procurement process through training and capacity building at every level of the process including regional, national and ministerial.
“NPTAB personnel will also be provided with focused training which will be extended to key officials Ministries and Regions who manage programmes and projects,” he said, while adding that the training modules will be done in both face-to-face and virtual settings even as it should commence before the end of the first quarter of the year.
In addition to that, the senior minister revealed that NPTAB is also set to begin working towards the digitization of records in order to have a fully electronic system as the agency prepares to launch an “E-procure” platform by 2024. With that, he mentioned, “we will operationalize the bidders register within the first quarter of 2022 and will design an open and transparent system to rank and classify contractors by capacity and make provisions for electronic evaluations and payments to contractors.”
Singh stated that since entering office, the PPP/C administration has worked diligently to restore accountability and transparency in public procurement. To this end he stated that last year, the government was able to modernise and create a more user-friendly website for the NPTAB where the contracts that have been awarded are displayed as well as the records of all tender openings.
As he spoke of the changes made at NPTAB, it was also noted that the tender openings are now held twice weekly (Tuesday and Thursday) which is a public and virtual opening process. As such, bidders would be able to join the process from the comfort of their offices.
“The business of the board is captured, in structured minutes for each board meeting, and is kept for future examination as is necessary. This is in contrast with the ad hoc arrangements under the previous APNU+AFC government,” Singh declared.
Additionally, it was revealed that the board has updated and issued new standard bidding documents for goods, works and services. Along with that a training manual for procuring entities inclusive of regional and ministerial, has been compiled.
Singh further said that the three-person independent evaluation committees have been remodeled, this means that those sitting on the committees will be drawn from persons and sectors other than from the procuring entity.
“This was aimed at correcting fundamental checks and balances and control inadequacies that were prevalent under the previous administration, where the chairpersons of the evaluation committees were the same persons that chaired the ministerial or regional tender’s board,” he said.
