A story in Tribune 242 states that government officials in the Bahamas are targeting a 20% reduction in procurement costs as they move to expand competitive bidding practices in order to comply with their trade treaty commitments under the Economic Partnership Agreement with Europe:
The Government is targeting savings of up to 20 per cent through planned public procurement reforms, while aiming to annually award the same percentage value to Bahamian small businesses.
Flagging plans to boost transparency and ‘level the playing field’ when it comes to bidding on government contracts, Michael Halkitis, minister of state for finance, yesterday said the public procurement reforms would bring the Bahamas into line with its Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) commitments.
Kicking-off the 2013-2014 Budget debate, Mr Halkitis said the draft regulations envisaged creating a Public Procurement Board, which will replace the existing Tenders Board.
This will be supported by the creation of a Public Procurement Department within the Ministry of Finance, headed by a chief procurement officer, and aggrieved bidders will have the opportunity to appeal Board decisions to a Public Procurement Review Tribunal.
“The principal function of the Public Procurement Department will be to ensure that procurement is done in a fair and equitable manner,” Mr Halkitis said.
