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The Government benches, which have a majority, voted solidly for the Bill, when a vote was taken. The main opposition PNC/R walked out of the National Assembly.
The Bill seeks to give effect to the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission (PPC), which is among the agreement contained in the Communiqué between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Robert Corbin.
The rationale behind the establishment of the PPC is to ensure greater transparency and fairness in the public procurement of goods and services, and is one of the agencies that the World Bank has been insisting that the Government establishment as an imperative for continuing to receive support from international financial institutions (IFIs).
Leading the debate for the Government, Minister of Finance, Saisnarine Kowlessar observed that in terms of improving transparency in the procurement process, Guyana has come a long way since 1992. He said that prior to this there were no established rules of procurement. This resulted in single sourcing, thereby negating competition for bids and, consequently, causing greater costs for the execution of projects.
Kowlessar contended that the Bill seeks to introduce new and comprehensive legislation on the subject of procurement, and is informed by principles embodied in Commonwealth Caribbean law on the subject and that of international organizations.
It is an attempt, in the regulation of the procurement of goods, services and construction, to pay heed to competition among suppliers and to promote fairness and transparency, bearing in mind the ethical considerations involved in public procurement.
However, the Opposition, which is supportive of the principles of the Bill, objected strongly to some clauses of the Bill, in particular, those that deal with the appointment of persons to serve on the National Procurement Board and the other tiers of the new structure.
Members of the Opposition claimed that the Bill as proposed puts too much power in the hands of the Finance Minister, thus creating a situation where there could be political interference in the appointments and functioning of the new structure.
As a result, members of all the Opposition parties proposed that the Bill be sent to a Select Committee to be revamped and refined to iron out those sections which objectionable.