A new procurement bill is in the works, says Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn, while maintaining that the procurement and tendering for Government contracts is already equitable.
He was responding to a question from moderator David Ellis on Voice Of Barbados’ Brass Tacks Sunday radio call-in programme. Ellis had asked how the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) intended to fulfil its 2018 election manifesto promise of ensuring small contractors received more work.
While stating that the Government’s procurement process was above board, the minister said they had already made steps to ensure fairness with amendments to the Financial Management Act two years ago, but would be going a step further to ensure they reached all the contractors directly.
“There will be a new procurement bill that I will introduce later this year. But for the record, when we passed the Financial Management Act in January 2019, we amended the financial rules to introduce the specific procurement rules for enfranchisement. (TG)
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