Public procurement legislation to reach parliament

The parliament will discuss the Public Procurement Bill after the Executive Council (ExCo) recently announced its conclusion of discussions.

The ExCo said existing regulations about the matter have been enacted over many years.

The government has proposed the bill after its review of a topical decree-law in 2021, to improve supervision of public procurement and improve the efficiency of public administration.

The government needs to clarify aspects of the bill, including its coverage and key principles such as transparency, openness and fair competition. The qualifications of nominees or bidders in a tender process must also be clarified.

The government intends to clarify and standardize types of public procurement procedures, concerning activities such as public tenders, limited tender by prior qualification, competitive negotiations, consultation and direct designation.

To increase administrative efficiency and reduce costs, the government wants to create a centralized contracting system to set award criteria for objective and fair contracting.

Stipulations were proposed concerning sanctioning regulations for the modification, termination and violation of contracts. At the same time, administrative infractions for violation of the public procurement system are also proposed.

If the bill becomes law, a website will be established to centralize data related to public procurement.

The director of Financial Services Bureau (DFS), Iong Kong Leong, had hoped the law would be enacted on New Year’s Day in 2025, but legislative procedures will prevent this.

DFS will establish and administer the website.

Should the bill be made law, a major change to the procurement procedure is that the purchase of consumables will be conducted through centralized tenders operated by the DFS. These consumables include drinking water, stationery and refreshments.

Currently, each bureau or government entity can open its own tender for the procurement of these resources.

The advantage of this proposed system, according to Iong, is that the government will have greater bargaining power on prices and quality. He did not say, however, whether the centralized system will lead to greater difficulty in sourcing enough resources.

All government entities will be subject to the governance of this future law, Iong added.