FMM welcomes credible, transparent govt procurement system

Based on feedback received from Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) members, the access by Malaysian manufacturers to bid or sell directly in an open and transparent tender system is limited and imported products are substituting Malaysian products sold to the GP market.

Thus, the federation welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the approval and procurement without tender for acquisition of works, supplies and services for government projects will no longer be allowed.

“The enforcement of this important procurement process will assist to address non-compliance issues in the GP market and will benefit the domestic industry players especially Malaysian SMEs,” commented FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai in a statement.

“FMM is a strong advocate of Buy-Made-in-Malaysia as robust domestic market demand for Malaysian manufactured products, especially from the public sector, strengthens the capacity and capability of the domestic manufacturing sector which in turn enhances efforts to build brand integrity in export markets.

“In this regard, a credible and transparent GP system supported by Buy-Made-in-Malaysia first mandate, which requires the federal government to buy, build or fund projects using Malaysian goods and services, is timely for business and economic revival.”

Malaysia currently has various legislations and Treasury circulars governing GP including the Financial Procedure Act 1957 and Treasury Circulars (PB 3.1) dated July 14, 2022 on Public Expenditure Savings Guidelines.

To further support the effort to develop credible and transparent procurement process, FMM has advocated for the Ministry of Finance since 2019 to develop a single unified GP Policy to house all GP related laws and policies and to ensure the regulations are enforced effectively through this single legislation.

FMM hoped that the policy, once implemented, will be able to address any violation to the existing rules. FMM also requested that the policy is developed to include states and government linked companies (GLCs).