Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has embarked on a major exercise to familiarise public servants with the new requirements and procedures for recently proclaimed procurement legislation. He began by meeting with members of Cabinet, Permanent Secretaries, and other senior officers.
According to a post on the Office of the Prime Minister’s Facebook page, Rowley told those gathered they are required to understand the Act and the spirit, letter and depth of the law.
He spoke more on the issue at a media conference yesterday afternoon.
“The most important thing that we had to do was to make sure that the public service understands what the law requires of each department,” he explained.
“Because what the law has done, which was not there before is to designate persons. This is why this time known or unknown, designate them as procurement officers in their departments.”
Rowley said there was uncertainty by some officers about their roles and responsibilities, especially if they could be penalised as a procurement officer for “shortcomings in the procurement or the department or an agency.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t tell them to rely on what they’ve read in the media, because I have seen a lot of misrepresentation of this matter in the media,” he said.
Rowley said he was disappointed there were still so many people, including commentators in the media, who didn’t understand the intricacies of the law. He noted that the procurement regulator is rarely a monitor of operations.
“The regulator and his department will not be awarding contracts and will not be adjudicating on contracts unless there are complaints of issues with contracts,” he clarified.
Dr Rowley said he also wants to extend the education exercise to the Tobago House of Assembly in addition to more providing more education and traning sessions throughout ministries.