Christie

Contractor General Greg Christie has appealed to Prime Minister Bruce Golding to reconsider Cabinet's decision to exempt four public bodies from certain procurement oversight procedures.

In a seven-page release yesterday, Christie called on the prime minister and Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, to rethink the implications of the move.

Last week, Christie railed against the Government's decision to grant exemption from certain rules in the Government Procurement Procedures Handbook (GPPH) to Air Jamaica, Petrojam Limited, Port Authority of Jamaica and the Jamaica Tourist Board.

Defending position

This immediately drew a response from Shaw, who sought to defend Cabinet's decision by outlining speci-fic circumstances that would warrant the public bodies' exclusion from the pro-curement rules.

Shaw also contended that before the rules were amended for the four entities, Cabinet took into account the views of the contractor general.

He said modifications were made to the GPPH guidelines, in relation to the four public entities, following the contractor general's input.

Rigorous process

The minister also suggested that there was a "rigorous process" of engagement between the affected entities before Cabinet modified the document to facilitate the four public bodies.

Yesterday, Christie presented a contrasting version in relation to his role in the process.

He said Cabinet "abruptly ceased communications" with the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) after it submitted drafts of a revised GPPH to the executive.

Christie said Cabinet approved the exemption measures on August 25, and the OCG learnt about the approval, almost a month later, from another entity it monitors.

Plea for fairness

He urged the administration to "withdraw the measure in the interest of preserving fairness, transparency, probity, competition, accountability and value for money in the country's procurement system". He stressed that this should be done in the interest of the taxpayers of Jamaica.

Christie cautioned that the "unprecedented" move by Government to relax the rules for certain public bodies would "dramatically alter the public procurement landscape in Jamaica".

This would effectively expose taxpayers' money to increasingly significant risks of corruption.

To see the contractor general's full statement, please visit http://www.ocg.gov.jm/ocg/

Christie cautioned that the "unprecedented" move by Government to relax the rules for certain public bodies would "dramatically alter the public procurement landscape in Jamaica".