Davis says Gov’t Will Bring Procurement Law Amendments After Break

#TheBahamas, August 22, 2022 – After parliament returns from recess, amendments to the Public Procurement Act will be brought to the House of Assembly – that is the word from Bahamas’ Prime Minister, Philip Davis.

The Public Procurement Act, which was passed last year, is an act to provide the framework and procedures for the public procurement of goods, works and services; to establish a public procurement department; to promote transparency and integrity in public procurement and for connected matters.

The Free National Movement (FNM) has continually criticised the administration for not following the law, and Davis has expressed that the law as it is is not workable but challenging. FNM Leader Michael Pintard said the government’s failure to adhere to the law was unacceptable.

In May, Pintard expressed that “the prime minister admitted on his feet in the House of Assembly that he is not in compliance with the law and that they have no intention to obey the law as it is presently written,” he said in May.

Davis said, however, that “if we were to follow the law as it is, we would never be able to bring relief to people, particularly you would have seen the challenges we have with the hospital. If we were to follow that, we’d probably still be in the potholes trying to address the issues. They’re not workable,” he added while explaining the reason for the decision.

In order to combat the challenges, he said that the suggestions made in aid of amending the laws are under consideration.

“We want to come up with a workable solution to the challenges we have. We are an archipelago, and so whatever construct we have has to take into account our peculiar and particular circumstances. We have to be able to respond to the needs of our people almost immediately in some instances…see one of the questions y’all should be asking and should be asking of the other side is why should you have passed the bill early in the year and not have it in effect until September? They understood what they were doing was not workable.”

Davis shared that the amendments may be known to the public before parliament returns. This is to garner input from Bahamians.