Finance Ministry Sensitising Public Procurement Officers

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service has launched a programme to sensitise officers involved in public sector procurement to new developments in the system.
The public procurement workshop, officially launched at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, on Wednesday (June 17), aims to familiarise the officers with new instruments and regulations governing procurement procedures in the public service which were issued in December, 2008.
Head of the Procurement Policy Implementation Unit in the Ministry, Shirley Gayle Sinclair, told JIS News that internal auditors and accountants with some kind of responsibility related to procurement are also involved. She said the workshop will ensure that they fully understand their responsibilities.
The training programme follows on one held in 2001, when the first major modification to the procurement system was effected.
Mrs. Gayle Sinclair explained that the programme will be administered by the Management Institute for National Development (MIND), and will be executed in two phases, targeting some 2,000 officers. On completion of the course, they will be certified by MIND.
The first phase commenced last week targeting some 1,500 individuals over a 12-week period. Training for the other 500 officers will be conducted in the second phase.
The programme started on June 8 with the Ministry of Transport and Works, and has been training persons in that Ministry and its agencies, including the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), the Port Authority of Jamaica and the Maritime Authority of Jamaica.
Mrs. Gayle Sinclair said that the programme will cost approximately $4 million. However, the exercise is currently being facilitated in the media room at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), which has helped to reduce the cost.
“The Ministry has a responsibility, in the first instance, to ensure that the governing provisions are promulgated, and that people are aware of them. So, in doing this and in conducting these sessions, we are fulfilling our mandate. But MIND will be taking the training to another level… certification of the practitioners in the system,” she stated.
Mrs. Gayle Sinclair disclosed that the Ministry is moving to secure international accreditation for the certification programme.
“What we hope to do is to partner with an internationally recognised body. So we develop our training programme, whether in collaboration with that body, or that body would be able to accept our training programme. So the certification would be recognised by the body”, she said.
She explained that MIND is assisting in identifying an institution, or body to collaborate with in the venture.