ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC—The Grenada parliament has given the nod to the government’s initiative to increase the threshold for sole sourcing or procuring government goods and services contracts even as an opposition legislator questioned how the new figure had been arrived at.
The Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Adrian Thomas, who piloted the amendment to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act, said that the new measure will go into effect as soon as it is published in the weekly gazette.
“The Bill does not have a commencement clause because the intention is for this Bill to come into effect upon its publication in the gazette,” said Thomas, noting that the amendment seeks to increase the procurement threshold but that regulations and conditions for government contracts will remain the same.
Initially approved in 2014, the Act that created the Public Procurement Commission came into force on the 21st day of April 2015 by an Order signed by the then finance minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell, who is now the Opposition Leader.
“What we need to do is enforce them so that we can guarantee we get value for money. Let us don’t sit here and believe that it is too risky to move it from EC$15000 to EC$100,000(One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents),” said Thomas, adding, “We trust our people, we trust ourselves, and we believe that Grenadians have come to a stage in their life now where it is important to give value for money. The State must be respected for that”.
However, opposition legislator Norland Cox expressed concern that moving single-sourcing contracts from EC$15,000 to EC$100,000 could have implications not just for the government but also for those who will be awarded them.
Cox explained that the EC$15000 was used in the original legislation as part of government policy to deal with urgent matters in communities or constituencies. He said there was some level of failure in the original law not to provide clarity when awarding EC$15,000 contracts.
“It didn’t say what the EC$15000 can be used for, and now, in trying to address certain measures, you find that EC$15000 is becoming increasingly difficult to award,” he said, telling legislators that, to his knowledge, there is a need for an increase, but EC$100,000 is too great.
“I believe there is a need for an increase, but what we have not heard is how we arrive at this EC$100,000; there is too much of a grey area. EC$100,000 is not about trust…it’s about competencies and practicalities,” said Cox.
“Whether it is practicable to give somebody EC$100,000 without proper oversight ensuring that their estimates are correct and that the person has the capacity and competency to manage the project.”
“We all know that if someone doesn’t have the competencies to manage large sums of money, it can easily be spent; it is within that context that my concern is centered,” he added.
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