SL Government speeding up procurement procedures

The Government, aware of many issues pertaining to the delay in procurements, is accelerating the process with new instructions to state agencies and local authorities.

In an April 4 circular, Treasury Deputy Secretary A.R. Deshapriya has issued additional instructions aimed at speeding up procurement by government departments and other agencies.

"To expedite the procurement process, an object code has been created to provide appropriate financial provisions for pre-procurement activities under the Budget Estimate from 2017. This arrangement will facilitate the procurement entities to initiate the procurement activities well in advance," said the circular titled "Acceleration of Government Procurement Process" to Ministry Secretaries, heads of departments and corporations and heads of local authorities.

It said 'with a view to accelerate the government development programmes avoiding undue delays in the government procurement process, Supplement Nos. 31, 32 and 33 have been issued to the Procurement Manual 2006 (Goods and

Works) to be used along with the respective sections of the Government Procurement Guidelines 2006 (Goods and Works), in terms of the related decision taken by the Cabinet of Ministers on 28.2.2017".

Supplement 31 refers to the maximum time periods (in weeks) to be spent for finalising the contract awards under the National Competitive Bidding and International Competitive Bidding Process separately. Procurement Entities have the freedom to decide suitable time slots for each procurement activities such as technical evaluation, contract award determination by the appropriate Procurement Committee and appeal process, etc while maintain compulsory bidding period.

It said Procurement Entities are required to comply strictly with the prescribed time period. To that effect it is required that the Procurement Entity, respective Procurement Committee and Technical Evaluation Committee at the first meeting to decide the Procurement Time Schedule (PTS) allocating appropriate time slots for each procurement action on the basis of the nature and complexity of the procurement.

Supplement 32 refers to the payments (fees) applicable for members of those who served in the respective Procurement Committees, Technical Evaluation Committees and other officers assisting procurement activities to encourage them to complete the tasks well within the time periods stipulated in Supplement 31.

Supplement 33 increases the authority limits of the Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committees (CACPCs) and Ministry Procurement Committees (MPCs) making determinations/recommendations on the contract awards.