NASSAU, BAHAMAS — FREE National Movement Leader Michael Pintard said the government’s continued violation of the Public Procurement Act is unacceptable and dangerous.
His comment came after Minister of Economic Affairs Michael Halkitis told reporters the law was put in place without proper training or manuals and that the Davis administration intends to revise the legislation to make it more workable.
Halkitis was responding to a question about the failure to comply with the law’s reporting requirements. The law requires that a notice of a contract award be published within 60 days after the contract is issued. The notice must indicate the title of the bid, the name of the procuring entity, the selection method used, the name and address of the awarded bidder and the procurement contract price.
“It was a major piece of legislation that was put in place without all of the foundational pieces in terms of the manuals, the training, the staffing of the office,” Halkitis said.
“As you would recall the law was passed, it was a long period, and it was brought into effect in September of 2021. We are totally interested in transparency and being able to provide the public with that sort of information but the government needs to be able to operate. You have to build capacity when making those sorts of changes. You don’t just pass a law today and it’s supposed to work.”
Pintard, however, said publishing contract awards is not a difficult thing.
“The prime minister admitted on his feet in the House of Assembly that he is not in compliance with the law and that they have no intention to obey the law as it is presently written,” he said.
“It is a dangerous thing when the chief lawmaker acknowledges that they are in violation of law but refuses to set the appropriate example in insisting that the law be followed.”
Pintard continued: “He does not have the luxury of waiting until the law is changed, nor does he have the latitude under the law to do so. He has now set a tone that is being followed verbatim by Minister Halkitis and it sends the wrong message to the Bahamian people that we are called upon to be compliant with multiple pieces of legislation and it certainly sends the wrong message that has substantial implications and serious downside when it is observed by the international community that this government has no intention on following the law.
“With respect to the government saying that there are some additional things that must be done relative to the law, that is in our estimation completely disingenuous as to why they are not reporting the contracts that have been signed,” he said.
“So even if, and we do not accept their position by the way, but even if there was an issue with the letter of the law, what prevents this administration from following the spirit of the law which is to be transparent in terms of all contracts being entered into by government corporations, boards, authorities, and ministries?
Pintard added: “All of them can individually declare the contracts that they have entered into, the amounts, the duration of the contracts, the beneficial owners of the companies and obviously the public will get a sense of what the terms of those contracts are. At a minimum, they should follow the spirit of the law though we believe they have no protection with respect to the letter of the law.”
