Senate approves Public Procurement Act 2025

Government senators and Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, Peter Bunting, yesterday coalesced to approve the Public Procurement Act 2025 with four amendments.

In piloting the legislation, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Aubyn Hill said the parent legislation had proven to be a difficult piece of statute to navigate in procuring products and services for government entities, even if in concept it was necessary.

The senior Cabinet minister noted that many people have complained publicly that the Procurement Act of 2015 had been crafted on the premise that “all Jamaicans are not honest while waving the banner of value for money and transparency”.

He argued that many are of the view that the legislation has been a hindrance to the procurement and development process, even as it has been useful in securing value for money.

Members of parliament on both sides of the political divide have, in the past, complained that the current procurement rules have caused undue delays and at times stymied the implementation of capital projects by the Government.

Bunting said it was impatient of debate that urgent changes are needed to expedite and streamline the procurement process.

“We need to remove as much of the bureaucratic delays and administrative bottlenecks as we can from the whole government administrative system,” said Bunting, who was the sole opposition member during the debate.

FULL SUPPORT

Referencing the memorandum of objects and reasons of the bill, which states that the proposed law was intended to introduce the concept of levels of competition in public procurement, Bunting said he was in full support of this objective.

“This is something that I support 100 per cent, not just in terms of administrative efficiency, but I think we also want to do it to level the playing field, promote competition, allow small and medium players to become medium and large players over time,” he said.

He also suggested that the Government should strengthen the e-procurement systems in order to facilitate a more rapid and transparent bidding process.

In his contribution to the debate, Government Senator Marlon Morgan welcomed the proposed statute, noting that it was “timely, relevant and consequential, and of considerable moment.

“It is of considerable moment because it represents an important advance to a more accommodating, applicable, modern, fit for purpose and growth-enabling and inducing regime governing public procurement,” Morgan said.

He added that the “big monster of bureaucracy” that is standing in the way of the utilisation of capital resources cannot be allowed to continue.

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