A search on the government's online portal for contract notices and contract awards under the Department of Public Works, which has a large capital works budget, reveals just four contract notices since the Public Procurement Act came into force on September 1, 2021.
The contract notices include one for IT consultant published on October 18, 2021 – the only notice published by the department between September, when the act came into force, and December 31, 2021.
The three notices from this major department of government for 2022 include a contract notice for a public private partnership (PPP) for the general post office, published on February 8; a PPP for the port development project published on February 7, and another PPP for the port development project published on January 31.
Section 61 of the act states that a procuring entity shall publish within 60 days of the award of a procurement contract, information on that contract award, including the name and address of the awarded bidder, the contract price and the selection method of procurement.
Our search did not produce any contract award notice being published by the Department of Works since the act came into force.
We also searched several other departments with large budgets.
The Department of Education produced just three entries: A contract notice for provision of professional certification (October 4, 2021); a contact notice for certification training (October 25, 2021) and a contract notice for building materials (February 2, 2022).
Our search did not produce any available data for Water and Sewerage Corporation.
Bahamas Power and Light published five contract notices since last September: notices for energy supplies, vehicles, appliances and a gas pressure washer.
There were 16 entries for the Royal Bahamas Police Force since the law came into force, mainly what appeared to be minor contracts, including roof repairs, exterior lighting works, general A/C works, furniture, cleaning supplies, and vehicle tires.
Public procurement specialist Daniel S. Ferguson, who led the drafting team for the development of the Public Procurement Bill 2021, and managed the development of the e-Procurement Supplier Registry, observed in an op-ed carried by The Nassau Guardian last July that only four agencies were at the time actively using the system: The National Insurance Board (NIB); the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources; Bahamas Department of Correctional Services and Royal Bahamas Defence Force.
Since the enforcement of the act last September, the RBDF had 20 contract notices for items ranging from generators to vehicle parts, to footwear, antigen tests and paint supplies.
NIB published 20 contract notices, including notices for roof repairs, external lighting repairs and paint jobs. It published no contract awards.
Since September 1, 2021, the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services had three contract notices: a notice for electrical supplies and services; a notice for the replacement or repair of a freezer and two ice machines and a notice for grocery.
The Ministry of Agriculture had 20 contract notices, including notices for the cleaning and hauling of conch shells/garbage from Arawak Cay, collection and disposal of bio-hazardous waste from the animal control unit, security services for Potter’s Cay Dock and Arawak Cay, office supplies and air condition maintenance.
The Ministry of Agriculture published one contract award notice for a $30,500 contract to Earth Design Landscaping for landscaping and garbage removal.
Since September, the Ministry of Health published 19 contract notices. It published one contract award – a $25,060 contract to Ports International for antigen tests.
It is apparent through multiple searches of the portal that most government agencies are treating the publishing of contract notices and contract awards as completely optional.
After exhaustive searching, we could only find a few contract award notices.
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