Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday announced that the government is gearing up to launch a special “procurement website” that will advertise all State contracts available across the country.
It is envisioned that this website will be available from next year, he told reporters during a press conference.
“Look out for that, we’re already working on it,” Jagdeo said.
He explained that the goal is to make the procurement system fairer and more transparent.
Currently, government contracts are primarily advertised in the newspapers. But Jagdeo explained that this method is quite costly to the treasury and oftentimes inaccessible to citizens across the country. He revealed that in 2024, the cost to the treasury was about $800 million for ad placements in the newspapers.
“If we have a procurement site now, once it [the advertisement] goes up there, people can go to that site and for the duration of the period when the tender is valid for…it shall be on the site,” Jagdeo explained.
“So. you can then go there, you will see what the opportunities are, people don’t have to go buy newspapers now…they can check on their phones…and check procurement opportunities across Guyana on that site. We will amend the law to ensure that that happens and we will also be using the online media outfits to carry more of the ads because they reach more people,” he added.
Jagdeo clarified that the government does not intend to completely stop advertisements to the newspapers, but, wants to cut down the cost and make the system fairer.
Meanwhile, the Vice President also spoke about the need for the procurement system to be widened to cater for more small contractors; he noted that the government is already working on this. Jagdeo also emphasised the need for better quality work among contractors.
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