Govt. should get procurement process in order

Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake told Parliament yesterday that driving licences and number plates with new features will be issued by the Department of Registration of Motor Traffic (DMT) soon.

According to available statistics, nearly 200,000 new vehicles are running without proper number plates at present. They run with cardboard or paper printouts of their licence number on the vehicles.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said at a public event this week that the prevailing shortage of medicines in the country is not due to shortage of funds but due to procurement-related issues.

These are just two of the instances where the public have to face difficulties because the Government cannot get its procurement process in order.

There have been several instances where tenders have been awarded and later withdrawn after it was revealed that the process was flawed or given in favour of Government supporters.

In July, activist Wasantha Mudalige revealed that the Government had cancelled a tender for the supply and delivery of 700 industrial-type power distribution units for the Electronic National Identity Card (e-NIC) project, following a complaint lodged with the Bribery Commission.

He claimed the procurement process lacked transparency and accused authorities of attempting to discredit whistleblowers rather than investigating the alleged misconduct. After the matter went public, the Ministry of Digital Economy under which the project was to be launched cancelled it. 

The NPP came to power promising transparency and accountability but some of the tenders it has awarded are questionable. The delay in awarding tenders also raises questions of whether the Government is delaying these till those it favours can prepare the necessary prerequisites to win contracts or if the tenders are being tailor-made to suit certain parties.

Those in the ruling party were the ones who freely threw around allegations and accused those from the previous Governments of corrupting the procurement process so as to give contracts to their supporters as well as earn commissions.

The fact is that there are a limited number of companies, for example, in the construction sector that will be able to bid for a certain Government tender and are qualified to carry on the related work. This means not only having the necessary experience but also the workforce and necessary equipment. Hence political favouritism alone will not suffice. They should be able to deliver while meeting the required standards, timelines, etc.

Take the health sector for example. The Minister’s comments that it’s not a shortage of funds but the procurement process that is causing the medicine shortage is laughable and reeks of inefficiency. Patients can’t afford to wait till the Government gets its procurement process in order when they are in dire need of medicine. Saying that the money is there but the goods aren’t has many asking why the minister was unable to get the procurement process for the health sector in place after being in office for a whole year.

This is the same with the number plates. Allowing vehicles to go about with number plates of designs of their choice poses security risks while putting the Police in a dicey situation. For all the big promises by the Transport Minister of going high tech he hasn’t been able to get a basic thing like issuing of number plates in place.

After over a year in office, the NPP has reached a stage where it cannot count on the goodwill of voters to keep it going. The public demand is that at least in providing basic services, the Government steps up and delivers.