National Procurement Commission to ensure transparency, competitive bidding
Thursday, 19 March 2015 00:13
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The National Procurement Commission proposed under the 19th Amendment of the Constitution will formulate fair, competitive and cost effective transactions in Government infrastructure tender activities, asserted Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha De Silva yesterday.
He said that the commission would investigate unsolicited Bills approved by the Government in transactions with private construction parties for public investment projects which had not featured a competitive tender-bidding process.
“As a policy we discontinued the acceptation of unsolicited proposals. We will not entertain any such proposals as a policy,” de Silva emphasised.
The gazetted 19th Amendment states that the function of the National Procurement Commission is to formulate fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective procedures and guidelines for the procurement of goods and services by all Government institutions.
The Deputy Minister said that establishing the commission was a huge decision taken by the Government to formulate fair transactions and competitiveness in tender deals of public infrastructur development projects.
“If the previous Government had recognised what the country needed, they would have developed a flyover in Rajagiriya not in Hambantota town,” the Deputy Minister said.
He further asserted that the independent commissions that had been introduced by the constitutional amendment would be appointed through the Constitution Commission which was going to be re-established by the 19th Amendment.
The 19th Amendment further proposes an Audit Service Commission, a Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, a Finance Commission and seven other independent commissions.
