Proposed procurement laws carry severe penalties including loss of contracts, blacklisting of firms, fines ranging from $500,000 to $5 million and jail terms of up to ten years, Planning Minister Bhoe Tewarie said yesterday.Piloting the procurement bill in the Senate, Tewarie particularly warned the private sector there are penalties for making false accusations as well as for abusing the process by collusion and bid-rigging.
"The bill is saying: you want an ethical system, you want good governance, you want ethical practices in the conduct of government business–then both government and private sector must conform and align themselves to a new regime of higher ethical conduct in T&T," Tewarie said.
The bill is geared to prevent corruption in public procurement processes and in the disposal of public property and to foster good governance, accountability, integrity, transparency, and value for money via establishment of the Office of Procurement Regulation. All public sector and state institutions, including government-to-government arrangements, come under the bill."Any procurement not done in conformance with the act will be a crime and there are penalties for this."
The bill establishes a new national agency with an independent regulator who will have oversight, set rules and probe and enforce terms and conditions. It removes duplication of effort by other enforcement agencies probing the same issues.Tewarie said the regulator, who reports to Parliament, can say "how to do things better and can interfere" if he or she does not like a process. The regulator can suspend a procurement process, probe it and enforce the law.
Every transaction will be recorded by the procurement office and scrutinised by the regulator, who assesses, reviews and notes it in reports to Parliament. Individuals will still have recourse to the courts to protect their rights, Tewarie said.The biggest beneficiary of the procurement process is the private sector, he said. The bill, therefore, establishes a central depository of private-sector entities that are potential beneficiaries.
"Every potential beneficiary must list their company and history documentation in the public repository. They're responsible for the accuracy and can be called to account for accuracy by the regulator and the process,"Saying both public and private entities are held to very high standards of accountability, Tewarie said crimes under the bill include bid-rigging and other forms of collusion.
Whistle-blowers protected
"Penalties can include voiding of procurement contracts and blacklisting–ineligibility–referral to the Police Commissioner and DPP if the violation is criminal, a $500,000 fine and a one-year imprisonment for making false statements and stronger penalties for greater crimes."There is a five-year penalty for one crime and seven- and ten-year jail terms for others and fines over $1 million to $5 million in the bill."
Tewarie said, "The private sector's responsibilities are to conform to the requirements of the act and subsequent regulations made by the procurement regulator."Their responsibility is not to seek to exploit loopholes and not to collude and not to use the investigation process in a frivolous manner by complaining about proceedings if they're not successful in a bid."For example, there is a penalty here for making false accusations, and others for abusing the process by colluding and organising in advance to bid-rig."
By providing for whistle-blower protection, he said, the bill also prohibits victimisation of whistle-blowers, their harassment, demotion, dismissal or negative treatment in any way after they give information to the police, DPP, Integrity Commission or regulator.The legislation prioritises local development and content in a project and can rule on foreign content.
Saying the bill was a promise of the People's Partnership manifesto, Tewarie said, the Government had kept faith with recommendations on the bill by a parliamentary committee comprising government, opposition and independent members.He said while the Opposition didn't oppose the recommendations, they hadn't voted for it either. He said the joint select committee recommended regulations that should be presented by the Finance Minister.