Minister Straughn says new legislation to benefit the disabled

Individuals seeking to provide goods and services to Government will soon be able to do so with greater ease, efficiency and transparency, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn has said.

He also noted that work was being done to ensure more people with disabilities would benefit from providing goods and services to Government.

He gave these assurances on Tuesday as he introduced the Procurement Bill 2021 in the Lower House.

Pointing out that central Government currently “deliberately” sources mops from the Barbados Association for the Blind and Deaf at a premium price, Straughn said “It is our intention to make sure that can spread right across and include state-owned enterprises.

“We are proud to be able to continue to support that community and we also want to include more persons with disabilities in the [procurement] process. We are actively seeing how we can bring more persons with disabilities within the context of public procurement in order to give them a fairer chance and a more deliberate chance to be sufficiently independent to support themselves,” explained Straughn.

“Certainly, COVID has not been kind to any of us and persons who are most vulnerable will deserve more of an opportunity to get ahead . . . I know there is already support of a technical nature that is ongoing,” he said, suggesting that a certain percentage of government procurement should go for the disabled community and for businesses owned by “young people”.

He said further details on how the disabled community will benefit from government procurement will be forthcoming, adding that officials were still in the process of developing accompanying regulations to the Procurement Bill that will make it fully operational.

Once passed, the Procurement Bill will make way for the establishment of a Public Procurement Tribunal, allowing for individuals to question or appeal a decision; make provision for standardization of trade terms and conditions; as well as make provision for  fines reaching up to $170,000 or imprisonment for seven years, or both, for varying offences.

It will also allow for vendors to be registered with what will become “government’s procurement department” (currently central purchasing department) so that whenever there is a bid from a procuring entity they would automatically get the information through a more “ordered” process, according to Straughn.

Stressing that the law was designed to “transform the way public procurement is done such that it benefits everyone”, the minister gave the assurance that work was ongoing within government agencies to also improve the internal administration process that should provide greater certainty to the procurement process.

“I expect this will be a sea change, because for the first time as we roll this out and the provision of a e-tendering system, the entire process of the governance of procurement will change,” said Straughn.

“Whether you are a central government agency or ministry, or whether you are a state-owned enterprise or commercial state-owned enterprise, this legislation will govern everybody such that the process of procurement will be consistent across every entity that government has any interest in,” he said.

Stating that the new law will cut out redundancies and eliminate “a lot of the back and forth” currently involved in government procurement processes, Straughn made it clear that while being registered and getting information did not mean automatic selection for a project, it meant improvement in the participation process.

“You are operating in an environment where the process of the evaluation of these things is intended specifically to be more open,” he said.

Adding that it will be important for individuals and companies to register with the procurement department, Straughn said the intent is to give everyone a fair chance at providing services and goods to government, including those in specific communities where government projects are to be undertaken.

“I want to reinforce the point that our intent here is to bring, where possible, a lot of the works to be executed within the context of the geography and make it real so that people can feel as if they have a part of the responsibility for maintaining the environment,” he said.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb