Suppliers to Gov’t must be educated about procurement process

There is a suggestion that those supplying goods and services to Governments in this region should become more knowledgeable about the public procurement process so as not to be put at a disadvantage.

That’s according to Public Procurement Practitioner and Trainer with the International Procurement Institute in Jamaica, Adrian Chin. Chin, who conducted a Level One Training Workshop in Public Procurement at the Barbados Community College yesterday, made the suggestion during an interview with the media.

“Based on my experience and running these sessions I am seeing a lot about what is happening in Trinidad, what is happening in OECS countries; this is my second time here, I have heard what is happening here already and what I find is suppliers; and I am speaking generally, not all of them; suppliers don’t know how to submit a bid,” he lamented.

Chin explained that too often suppliers who submit unsuccessful bids do not know why they failed. This, he noted is because they do not know there are rules in place which state that they must be debriefed so that they can better prepare themselves for the next exercise. As a result, Chin said, some choose not to get involved in future tendering processes.

“…We put out a tender and then we get six people; and then we put out a tender six months later and we get the same six people or five out of the six; and then we put out another tender and get five out of the six again, so the market is now just five or six people… I would have loved to have some of the suppliers here to kind of speak to them about the issues that are in procurement, why some of their bids are unresponsive,” he said.

His comments came as he explained that greater emphasis is being placed to procurement, with the process now being taught as well as included in trade agreements. Chin added that the area is also being “professionalised” such that persons are becoming certified in that field and there are more job prospects available.

“If it is that the rules are saying that each entity, whatever the design is, should have formalised procurement units, and I say the design because your entity may be so small that you don’t need one… then the opportunities are growing for procurement because of some of the reforms that are taking place,” he said.