The rapid expansion of Guyana’s road network, housing sector and other infrastructure projects has seen an increase in the number of contracts being awarded.
In an effort to increase transparency and efficiency in this process, the Government will be introducing a prequalification system for contractors.
According to Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, this system will ensure Cabinet members are supplied with all documents indicating the contracts being completed by any given company and will include a limit on projects for contractors.
“If you’re pre-qualified to do work for $500M and above and you get one contract, and you’re at $450M, when the Cabinet paper goes there, the paper will say this contractor is pre-qualified for half a billion dollars and already has a contract for $450M, therefore the Cabinet will say immediately say ‘they have reached their capacity’,” he explained.
The Vice President said in the current system, Cabinet is not aware of contractors’ current workload prior to approving new contracts.
The Government has complained about some contractors’ inability to meet deadlines stipulated on their assigned contracts.
Jagdeo said this new system will be implemented across the country and across all sectors.
To ensure its functionality, “all of the agencies will have to report through the centre, or a website about work that people have everywhere so that the Cabinet, or government can have a full picture.”
He noted that this step is in addition to other efforts to upgrade the procurement system including the implementation of an open bidding process and evaluation of bids.
In May, Jagdeo announced that the Government is reviewing its procurement system countrywide in an effort to clamp down on corrupt practices.
