NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Philip Davis yesterday asserted that the Public Procurement Act introduced under the Minnis administration was “rushed” through the consultative and legislative process, noting that given the significant changes to the legislation it was determined that repealing it altogether would be the better approach.
Davis told Parliament yesterday that the new Public Procurement Bill, if enacted, would repeal and replace the Public Procurement Act 2021. “This Act was rushed through the consultation and legislation process and came into force two weeks before the end of the Administration. The bill is the first of several bills which will be brought to the House to either amend or repeal legislation which was rushed through with little thought about the practical consequences on the governance process,” said Davis.
Davis said that his administration is committed to fair and transparent public procurement which is “not just publishing the names of contract awardees but ensuring that a process is followed which demonstrates value for money concerning the use of taxpayers’ funds”.
On Monday the government launched its new eProcurement platform. The new platform, designed and built by GobonFire, will enable vendors to receive customized procurement opportunity notices, search for procurement opportunities across all Government agencies, and provide instant access.
Davis noted yesterday that Section 3 of the new Act will exclude additional areas that are not procured due to their nature. “The other excluded areas are financial consultancy concerning public debt, audit services, contracts entered into by the Government in support of or pursuant to an international treaty, accord or convention or other international multilateral agreement, an agreement between the Government and an international funding agency, whose procurement rules are mandatorily applied to any procurement contracts partially or wholly funded by monies loaned or advanced pursuant to such agreement,” he said.
He further noted that the new Act also provides for Framework Agreements, which are agreements by a supplier to provide goods or services under a predetermined pricing structure and on specified terms and conditions within the period specified therein. Under the new Act the Procurement Board which formerly consisted of nine members, has been reduced to seven to ensure administrative efficiency.
The Prime Minister also noted that the disqualification provisions in the original Act have been significantly expanded to allow a bidder to be disqualified for a host of bad actions in the procurement process, including attempting to influence or induce the award of a contract by the offer of employment, a gratuity or any other thing of service or value.
Criteria for award of contracts have also been expanded to allow flexibility for awards depending on the nature of the contract and the requirements specified for evaluation in the bidding documents.Section 58 of the legislation also clarifies that the publication of beneficial ownership information applies to post-Act contracts funded by the proceeds of loans from funding agencies.
“The original Act’s retroactive application of this provision would have offended the Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act which applies explicitly to government,” Davis noted.
Davis concluded,”Given the significant changes, the reorganisation and revision of material provisions relating to bidding methods, and the introduction of several new clauses and definitions, it was determined that repealing the Act would be a better approach than amending the Act.”
Opposition Leader Michael Pintard, MP for Marco City pushed back against the Prime Minister’s assertion that the Procurement Act 2021 was rushed. “I think it is in the public’s interest to know that the actual Bill was sent to the Progressive Liberal Party, the Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG) and the Chamber of Commerce. Was also peer reviewed by leading jurisdictions internationally. The IDB and the World Bank participated in this process.”
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