Role of procurement

But I find that every Budget doesn’t begin with what the mission and vision of the Government is in the long, medium and short term.

In other words, what does our Budget point towards? What are our national goals and what are we trying to achieve within a specific time frame? One gets the feeling that our Budgets are more about trying to survive given the prevailing circumstances.

So the big questions are: Where are we going? What are we heading towards? How will we get there? What do we need to take us there? I make my Budget contribution as one who has been at home for the past 16 months, unable to find a job although I hold a MBA specialising in logistics and supply chain management.

In this crucial time of scarce resources, why haven’t the past and present governments allowed the contributions that procurement can add to reducing the total cost of goods, services and works take effect? In this strapped economic times, procurement plays a most critical role in helping the Government save millions of dollar.

So why is the procurement legislation taking so long to be proclaimed? It is no secret that procurement in the public sector is riddled with fraud and unethical behaviour, which increase the cost of acquisition and in the long run stunt the Government’s ability to allocate resources to other areas like research and development.

Most suppliers of goods and services doing business with the public sector hike their prices by as much as 400 percent because of the inefficiencies, lack of monitoring and control, inadequate procurement policies and procedures, lack of a “360 scorecard” approach to supplier evaluation and the absence of effective negotiations.

To put it bluntly, we have a procurement system that is rigged and while I will not blame any government for the delays in ensuring we have a procurement regime that seeks to get value for money spent, it is obvious we are not ready to move TT forward.

The Government can save millions of dollars and do more with scarce resources. But my suspicion is that successive governments believe they would shoot themselves in the foot if the procurement legislation is proclaimed.

Maybe because we are not yet prepared to put country first. I stand corrected.

As a citizen with a supply chain major, I want to go out on a limb and make myself available to my Government. I want to do for my country and not just ask what my country can do for me. I want to contribute to savings.

I would like to put more money into the hands of the Government utilising my expertise in negotiations, strategic supply chain management techniques, strategic procurement policy framework to drive performance in the public sector, supplier relationship and management, pre-qualification and contract administration and bench-marking.

TT needs all of its professionals to think national development now. The Government must now recruit its professional minds to help turn us around and remove those who are doing all in their power to siphon money from our national Treasury.

PAUL DUNCAN via email