Manning hails on-line tendering

He was addressing a seminar yesterday at Crowne Plaza held by the Ministry of Finance on the topic “E-auctions: Revolutionising Government Procurement.”

He said the Government would soon replace the Central Tenders Board (CTB) Ordinance 1961 by a new Act governing public procurement. The CTB Ordinance was inadequate, he said, because it only referred to the tendering stage of procurement and because some public bodies fell outside its remit.

“What is needed is a procurement policy that goes well beyond the tendering process.”
Manning said a White Paper on procurement reform had said new technologies had accelerated the trend towards e-commerce.

“The White Paper sees the promotion of the use of e-commerce as a means of further streamlining the procurement and production processes and of providing access to a larger marketplace.” He said a recent report by the International Telecommunications Union, “The Internet of Things,” had warned that soon business will only be done on-line. “There would hardly be much opportunity for business without e-commerce and e-government.”

Private commerce, he said, had already adopted e-procurement, which the public sector was also recognising as best practice. Manning said e-auction was one stage in e-procurement which was quick, open and transparent. He listed another advantage for public bodies, saying: “Buyers get a greater insight into the nature of the market and about the true market price for goods and services or the lowest sustainable price that suppliers can offer for their contract.”

He concluded that he was confident the public sector could embrace electronic procurement.