Elevate Procurement Conference Gets under way on April 23

Anticipation is high for Tuesday’s (April 23) start of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service’s inaugural ‘Elevate Procurement Conference’, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James.

The event will feature three days of exciting and engaging discussions and presentations by local and international experts, under the theme ‘Elevate: Innovate, Create’.

Chief Procurement Policy Officer at the Ministry, Andrei Bennett, told JIS News that the response to the conference has been overwhelming.

“The conference is oversubscribed. We’ve had to turn back maybe two to three hundred people, because we just simply do not have the physical space. We’re super excited, as is everyone else, about all of the things that we’re going to be discussing in this three-day conference,” he said.

He noted that the event “is about changing misperceptions about what public procurement really is. Too often, our experience with public procurement happens when there is [concern regarding use of public funds], but public procurement is really about government investing, spending billions of dollars to construct roads, hotels, buy ventilators for hospitals and so much more”.

He said that dispelling the misconceptions is essential in ensuring that persons are educated about the procedures of government procurement.

“Elevate, then, is about bringing all the people together – academics, businesspeople, lawyers, procurement practitioners, other stakeholders, in one space to have them interact with new ideas, fresh takes on the same old things and to network and then come away with a resolve to do better to elevate procurement in Jamaica,” Mr. Bennett pointed out.

He contended that once persons are equipped with the knowledge and understanding about procurement the process will seem less daunting.

“Part of the reason that it seems so hard is because too many people don’t understand what we’re trying to do. You see, when you understand how to do something, it becomes so much easier,” he reasoned.

“At Elevate, we’re going to have discussions not only about the technical basics of getting procurement done in terms of the transactions but also the reasons behind it and that, I think, will help persons to bring better context to all of the activities and the discussions surrounding public procurement,” he added.

Mr. Bennett told JIS News that conference attendees are in for an educational experience.

“Each day, we’re going to give you a fantastic line-up of experts, not only local experts but we’re flying people in from France for them to come to share their experiences. You will get step-by-step instructions as to how to submit tenders to the Government, and there will be a booth for people who have not yet signed up with the Government of Jamaica Electronic Procurement Portal,” he informed.

“You can get on board, and you can learn how to submit bids. You’ll also learn about the reasons we do things in a particular way. When you get a bidding document to respond to, you can understand why the Government has asked [certain] questions, and therefore, that puts you in a good position to give the Government exactly what it needs,” Mr. Bennett concluded.

The opening ceremony will be live streamed on the JIS and MOFPS Facebook and YouTube pages starting at 9:00 a.m.

The conference concludes on Thursday, April 25.