E-auction
best bet
By Sherwin Long
The Trinidad Guardian
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
03 18 07
With
T&T’s state enterprises purchasing an
estimated $30 billion in goods and services annually,
the Government is positioning online auctioning
to boost transparency in its procurement process.
Minister
in the Ministry of Finance Christine Sahadeo gave
this assurance yesterday during an e-auction seminar
held at the Hilton Trinidad, Port-of-Spain.
Sahadeo
described e-procurement as the most transparent
procurement regime to date.
“It
makes the tendering process more efficient and transparent
and guarantees value for money,” she said.
“Companies have reported as much as 25 per
cent to 30 per cent savings on their procurement
costs.”
Over
the past year and a half special interest groups
in the construction sector have constantly criticised
Government’s procurement procedures.
One
of their main grouses is the long time it is taking
Government to lay the white paper on public sector
procurement reform in Parliament.
Sahadeo
revealed that the Government has received several
new recommendations and inputs that must be reviewed
before the white paper becomes law.
She
did not say how much longer it would be until the
white paper is laid in Parliament.
However,
she championed e-auctioning and cited examples of
local state enterprise companies benefiting such
as WASA, the Telecommunications Authority of T&T
and YARA.
She
noted that WASA has saved over US $4 million through
e-auction events.
Leslie
Figaro, WASA’s general manager of corporate
services, said since July 2006 the company has saved
six per cent on computers and 25 per cent on pipes
and fittings for its infrastructure development
thrust.
Sahadeo
assured that local suppliers would not be eliminated
from supplying state enterprises and said training
would be provided for them on the e-auction process.
During
the seminar, senior executives from service providers
such as PA Consulting Group, Perfect Commerce, Ariba
and SAP gave demonstrations of the e-auction process.
Trinidad
Guardian
Tuesday 13th March, 2007
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