The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) has begun the process of preparing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This is according to Finance Minister, Winston Jordan.
The Economist noted that the procedures will outline turnaround times for each stage of the procurement process and facilitate more effective planning on the part of the ministries, departments, and regions.
At the budget agency level, Jordan said that the dearth of procurement planning compromises the pace of programme and project implementation. To address this, Jordan said that all agencies have been tasked with establishing procurement and planning units before the end of 2018.
In addition, NPTAB will expand its training programme facilitated by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), to ensure a larger cohort of officers is trained in procurement concepts and methodologies. The Board has begun working with the health, education, and sea defense sectors, through a pilot, to develop procurement plans for each sector, as well as to establish compliance monitoring for procurement within those agencies.
Further to this, the Finance Minister said that the existing procurement system is being upgraded to improve the quality of data, enable direct data capture by procuring entities and broaden procurement statistical analysis reporting to include, among other things, small business procurement, as specified in the Small Business Act, by all procuring entities, through clearly defined business processes.
Through support from another development partner, Jordan said that his Ministry has begun the process of engineering standardized procurement, accounting and auditing compliant business processes across the National Procurement and Tender Administration and its appointed Tender Boards. He said that these initiatives are intended to move Guyana toward a path of Sustainable Public Procurement.
In addition to this, Jordan said that the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has been contracted to rebuild the NPTB capacity plan at the national level. Jordan said that this is in an effort to improve the overall approach to strategic planning for projects and investments.
The Finance Minister noted that CDB consultants will continue to work with the officials at his Ministry up to the early part of 2020.
