The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ECONOMIC Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis said state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will eventually be incorporated into the central government’s procurement system so that awarded contracts are disclosed to the public.

He said those bodies need to be included in the GoBonfire System.

On Sunday, The Ministry of Finance released a list of contracts awarded from September 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. The release disclosed details about 843 contracts worth $140m.

The release was the closest the government has come to complying with the Public Procurement Act, which requires disclosing the name and address of winning bidders, the procuring entity, the procurement selection method and the award amount within 60 days of the contract award. SOEs must follow the same requirements.

Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard rejected the Ministry of Finance’s release, calling it incomplete.

In response, Mr Halkitis noted yesterday that although the Minnis administration passed the original law, it came into force under the Davis administration.

“You had an administration who put in a piece of legislation that they did not have to comply with,” he said. “Intentionally, they did not have to comply with. They did not have to live with it.

“The leader of the opposition continues to talk about breaking the law and not complying with publication. That is one element of the procurement legislation.”

“A much more important element that we coming in 2021 had to do was engage a chief procurement officer, establish a procurement board, acquire technology, train individuals in every single government ministry and every single government agency in using the system, acquire the system.”

“The provision of the law that requires a publication, we’ve done that. The publication and the update of the information is a continuous process. If you go today, you’ll see more information than was there yesterday. If you go tomorrow, you’ll see more information than what’s there today, so it’s a continual process. It also called for an annual report that will be done, and all the information will be made public.”

The Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) noted that the government’s list did not report the address of the businesses awarded contracts as the law requires.

Mr Halkitis blamed this on security concerns.

“Say John Brown gets a contract for $20,000 from the government,” he said. “You gonna put that person personal address publicly in the public domain? It’s a security issue.”

“So we continue to refine the system. Unfortunately, what has happened is a lot of people have included their personal address. We don’t want that to publish because, obviously, it’s a security issue.”

“You put it out there that this person get this contract. All of a sudden, it’s a security issue, someone come and rob them.”