OCG wants disclosures for contracts over $275,000

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

CONTRACTOR General Greg Christie has proposed the mandatory disclosure of particulars of owners of private entities desirous of bidding or tendering for Government contracts over $275,000 in value.

According to Christie, the proposal, if accepted, would be a sure way of stopping individuals from pulling the wool over the State's eyes in contract dealings.

The proposal was formally tabled last Thursday by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) before the committee established by Prime Minister Bruce Golding to review the Government's Procurement Policy, Procedures and Regulations. The full particulars of the proposal, inclusive of a specimen of the Disclosure Form, were also delivered by the contractor general to Financial Secretary Dr Wesley Hughes and copied to the prime minister, Finance Minister Audley Shaw and Cabinet Secretary Douglas Saunders.

The OCG, in a statement issued to the media afterwards, said the new anti-corruption measure -- which is designed to combat what it views as a corruption-enabling facility which is currently enjoying the colour of law -- will significantly improve transparency in Government contracting by revealing the true identities of the owners of companies and other private business entities that are receiving Government of Jamaica contracts.

"By implementing this very important and ground-breaking anti-corruption measure, we will finally know the true identity of the persons, public officials, parliamentarians and politicians, and related parties, inclusive of their friends, relatives and associates, who have been receiving Government contracts," said the contractor general.

Speaking with the Observer on Sunday, Shaw, who said he had not yet been given a chance to review the proposal, emphasised that even while "thresholds are important, monitoring oversight" will have to take centrestage.

"...We have been continually reviewing the procurement process and the contract award process, but at the same time we are going to have to ensure that we don't put things in place that make the process so bureaucratic that it becomes almost an albatross around the neck of expediting matters," said Shaw.