KINGSTON, Jamaica —The Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA), in calling for a revamp of Government’s procurement guidelines, says it is deeply disturbed by the recent reports of the failure by a contractor to deliver 200 pre-owned motor vehicles to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

In light of the announcement by the Contractor General to begin criminal investigations in relation to the award of contracts, the JMA said “it is evident that there continues to be management weaknesses and internal control deficiencies in the Government. Inadequate supervision exposes millions of tax payer dollars to fraud, waste and mismanagement. As the Association that represents the sector that contributes approximately 55 billion dollars in taxes, the JMA deems this abuse of authority and poor administration deplorable.”

According to the JMA, earlier this year in a sit down with Minister of National Security, Robert Montague, he noted that a unified and holistic approach was critical to the fight against the barrage of crime plaguing the country.

“But no approach to crime fighting can be practically implemented without the issue of adequate mobility for our police men and women being addressed. In procurement, especially of this nature, the approach cannot be to simply accept a contract without proper assessment of the financial proposal and ability to fulfil the contract in a timely manner, whilst providing quality products. The contracted delivery time of 90 days has now exceeded 300 days. Time, money and lives have been lost as a critical tool in the police crime fighting arsenal has been completely compromised,” the JMA said in a statement.

The JMA called on Government to vigorously review the allegations to determine if there was violation of any law, rule or regulation.