GCC – GPPA Hold Consultative Forum On Bid Rigging in Public Procurement

FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

Abubacarr Saidykhan

3 May 2011

The Gambia Competition Commission (GCC) in collaboration with the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA) held a two days consultative forum and a Round Table Interplay Discussion between sector Regulators on ‘Bid Rigging in Public Procurement’ on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th of April 2011 at the Sheraton Resort Spa at the Brufut Heights.

In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Alhaji T. S. A. Njie, the Board Chairman of GCC, underscored the importance of the issue of bid rigging to both the public and the private sectors. He said the workshop would be mapping out strategies that will help them to properly understand the implications on bid rigging in the Gambia. He said they have to look at the various aspects that are directly involved in bid rigging, adding that competition regulations is not a responsibility of one person but the duty of all.

For his part, the Chairman of the Gambia Public Procurement Authority Mr. Gibril Jobe said GPPA is very much interested in preventing bid rigging in any form. He said competition is something that needs to be regulated but admitted that it is an easy task to tackle. He implored the workshop to come up with something tangible to curb bid rigging in public procurement.

Madam Hilary Jennings, the Head of Competition Outreach in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), expressed pleasure for the OECD taking part in the workshop. She said the workshop will help them to fully understand how the tax payer’s money should be managed, adding that the building of alliances between the different sectors is also very important.

Madam Naffie Barry, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, in her opening statement, said the GCC was set up by an Act of the National Assembly in 2007 and charged with the responsibility of promoting competition and protecting Gambian markets against anti – completive practices by enterprises. She said the Act prohibits anticompetitive agreements and the abuse of dominant position by enterprises with a view to ensuring that there is no adverse effect on competition in the Gambia. She added that the act also prohibits any agreement which causes or is likely to cause appreciable adverse effects on competition in market in the Gambia.

During the presentations, Mr. Amadou Ceesay of GCC said following enactment of the GCC Act in 2007 the Commission became fully operational in 2009. He said they have the powers to investigate (including entry and search), compelling attendance and production of documents, sanction restrictive business practices and issue direction.

Mr. Ceesay said GCC is working to prevent monopoly situations that have the effect of lessening competition and that they look at bid rigging, price fixing, market sharing etc. He noted that ‘Competition Policy’ is all about Economic Growth, Productivity and Innovation and that ‘Value for Money’ is Lower prices, Better quality and Choice.

The GCC official said the Commission’s main objectives and basic philosophy is to see that the money has value and also to avoid abuse and corruption. He said their principles involve transparency, integrity, anti- corruption, participation and competition, fair and equitable treatment, and economy and efficiency. He said the possible consequences of bid rigging are low prices, extra cost to tax payers, diminished public confidence and it undermines the benefits of healthy competition.

Mr. Ceesay said their role is to increase awareness of the risks of bid rigging in procurement tenders by way of outreach programmes and also educational programmes. He said their role is also to help educate procurement officials on how to detect bid- rigging through actual examples of bid rigging patterns and conduct to indicate occurrence of bid rigging. He concluded that there is need for the training of procurement officials to enable them collect evidence to be used to prosecute bid rigging conduct more effectively.

Mr. Kebba Sallah, Acting Director (C. T. D) GPPA, presented on the ‘Ethics, Accountability and Transparency in Public Procurement’. He said the GPPA is mandated to serve as a catalyst for good governance by ensuring that a transparent, efficient and economic public procurement system prevails. He said they protect the tax payer’s money through prevention of fraud, corruption and other forms of malpractices in public procurement and that they also level the playing field by creating an equal opportunity for prospective suppliers of goods, works and consultancy services. He said procurement actors are accountable for the dispensation of public funds in the conduct of public procurement.

On the conduct of public officers, Mr. Sallah cited section 28 sub (1) of the Act which states that a public officer involved in public procurement shall: discharge his/ her duties impartially, act in the public interest, avoid conflict of interest, not commit, aid or abet corrupt or fraudulent practices.

Other presentations were also made by officials from different regulatory bodies such as the Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA), Gambia Civil Aviation (GCA), Gambia Ports Authority (GPA), Gambia Maritime Authority (GMA), and Central Bank of the Gambia (CBG).

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