Cabinet extends contract power

[Karl]

Cabinet extends contract power
published: Thursday | December 20, 2007


In an attempt to speed up the public sector contract procurement process, Cabinet, on Monday, approved a new measure to increase the threshold for the award of contracts by the National Contracts Commission (NCC) and the Cabinet.

A select number of public entities had been accredited to award contracts internally, "up to a certain threshold". This, a ministry paper from the Cabinet Office explains, is because of the frequency of 'high-value' procurement contracts critical to their core business.

Cabinet also gave approval for the management by specific entities of procurements "critical to their efficient operation in a competitive environment".

Guidelines
The existing guideline allows public bodies to award contracts valuing below $250,000. For those worth $250,000 to $3.99 million, quarterly reports on all such transactions must be submitted to the Contractor General.

All government contracts, which are valued at $4 million and above, must be independently reviewed and endorsed by the NCC before the contract can be awarded by the recommending public body or agency.

For contracts valued at $15 million or more, Cabinet must endorse the recommendation before the award can be made.
It is not yet clear how far-reaching will be the implications of the new guidelines policy for some of the existing provisions.

[Karl]

Make legal for the JLP some of the PNP's earlier 'corrupt' acts...yes?!
YES!
Go Brucie!
Yuh a di Driver!

[Karl]

Christie concerned about new contract rules

Christie concerned about new contract rules
published: Friday | December 21, 2007


Christie
Claiming his office was not given details about new contracting measures that Cabinet recently approved, Contractor General Greg Christie yesterday wrote to Prime Minister Bruce Golding, asking that his office be consulted before these measures are implemented.

On Monday, Cabinet approved a new measure to increase the threshold for the award of contracts by the National Contracts Commission (NCC) and the Cabinet. "We would be grateful if the Commission of the Contractor General is afforded with the opportunity to be consulted on the matter before the referenced new measures are formally implemented," wrote Mr. Christie in a letter addressed to Mr. Golding and copied to Cabinet Secretary Dr. Carlton Davies and NCC Chair, Shirley Tyndall.

[Karl]

Gleaner EDITORIAL - Tread carefully on new contracts...

EDITORIAL - Tread carefully on new contracts threshold
published: Sunday | December 23, 2007


We are loath to criticise the new administration's plan to lower the financial threshold at which specific government agencies can unilaterally enter procurement contracts, yet, we understand the seeming concern of Contractor General Greg Christie over the issue.

The administration is yet to state the size of the contracts these selected agencies would be allowed to award without the endorsement of the National Contracts Committee (NCC). It is, however, obvious that it will be somewhere more than the $4 million that is now the trigger sum.

Our sympathy with the Government proposal rests on two main planks. The first is that, in any sense, J$4 million is not an awful lot of money. It was not when the current threshold was implemented, during the tenure of former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. And much of that value has been eaten away by inflation during that period.

Or, looked at another way, this is not the size of procurement deal the management of which should seriously stretch any reasonably competent administrator. Moreover, we suspect that the administrative costs, in terms of time and effort, in taking these bids to the NCC for approval, if done seriously, would be prohibitive.

This latter point, of course, is related to the issue raised by the Government. We understand the argument that contracts critical to government departments and agencies, but not of particularly high value, are delayed while they work their way through the NCC. There is the potential for undermining important service delivery.

However, like Mr. Christie, whose job it is to police government procurement contracts, to ensure that taxpayers get value for their money, we are surprised that the Contractor General was not consulted prior to last week's declaration of intent. It is not too late, though, to have this corrected.

Mr. Christie has asked for the NCC and his office to be engaged before thresholds are agreed. We expect that Prime Minister Bruce Golding will facilitate such discussions.

Indeed, it is in Mr. Golding's interest that this should happen and to be seen to be doing everything to prevent corruption. After all, Mr. Golding's Jamaica Labour Party campaigned on a robust anti-corruption platform and its agitation, while in Opposition, helped persuade Mr. Patterson to lift the benchmark for procurement deals to have the imprimatur of the NCC.

Mr. Golding's party had good reason then to be wary of supposedly relatively small contracts being allowed to by-pass NCC endorsement and periodic scrutiny by the Office of the Contractor General. It was not unknown, for instance, for large contracts to be cut into a number of smaller ones, for the same procurement, so as to evade the NCC and the Contractor General. This was one way to stock the political pork barrel and we suspect, accommodate graft and kickbacks.

In the face of all this, we are sure that Mr. Golding understands our concerns. His administration, perhaps more than any other in the recent past, needs to demonstrate that it is doing all in its power to eradicate corruption. Having raised the bar yourself, you can't shy away from the hurdle.


The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.