THE Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has joined forces with the National Health Fund (NHF) to train 50 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in performance-driven procurement practices.

Held at the Courtleigh Hotel under the theme “Meet the Buyer Symposium”, the session was designed to give smaller contractors a better grasp of how to navigate Jamaica’s public procurement system — an area that accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the country’s GDP but remains mainly dominated by larger, more established firms.

PPC Executive Director Nadia Morris said the training gave participants practical insight into Jamaica’s Contractor and Consultant Performance Evaluation Programme (CCPEP), which rates suppliers on contract delivery and compliance.

“As Jamaica undergoes significant, positive transformation, we can celebrate the introduction of CCPEP as an important cog in this wheel of development,” Morris said in a press release. “Let us support CCPEP and be committed to utilising it in our public sector operations. This will also set a remarkable precedence for private sector operations to utilise similar accountability strategies.”

Launched in November 2023, the CCPEP framework has already trained 205 procuring entities and onboarded 78 contractors and consultants to the PPC’s Data Visualisation and Business Intelligence Platform. The goal, Morris added, is to create a culture where strong performance directly influences future contract awards, which could open more consistent opportunities for MSMEs.

NHF Chief Executive Officer Everton Anderson welcomed the partnership, noting that the fund, which manages more than $14 billion in annual contracts, wants to ensure that procurement remains transparent and fair.

“This is a win-win. It allows business operators to better understand how the process works while maintaining confidence in how public funds are spent,” he said.

The training came against the backdrop of long-standing challenges faced by MSMEs in public procurement — from limited access to credit and slow payments, to lack of experience in drafting bids and navigating complex tender rules. While Jamaica introduced a 20 per cent set-aside policy for MSMEs in 2019, many smaller firms still struggle to compete for contracts that demand advanced compliance and performance records.

The symposium, Morris said, was designed to close that gap by improving understanding of the tender process, contract administration and the criteria used to evaluate contractor performance. Presenters from the PPC, the NHF and the Ministry of Finance’s Office of Public Procurement Policy led sessions on recent legislative changes and best practices for maintaining high performance ratings.

According to the PPC, the feedback from this first “Meet the Buyer” workshop will help shape future training sessions. The aim is to build a more predictable, performance-driven system that rewards competence and reliability, giving smaller firms a fairer chance to do business with government.

Chief executive officer of the National Health Fund Everton Anderson, speaking at the Meet the Buyer Symposium in Kingston, where he described the PPC–NHF collaboration as a “win-win” for improving fairness and accountability in public procurement.