Basic Outline of Government Contract Award Rules

(August 9, 2010)

Below is an outline of the general procedures and practices which inform the manner in which Government of Jamaica (GOJ) contracts are awarded.

The Basics of the Procurement Process

1.  GOJ contracts are not recommended, approved, endorsed and/or awarded by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG). The primary mandate of the OCG, as is outlined in Section 4 (1) (a) of the Contractor General Act,  is to monitor and to investigate the award of GOJ contracts to ensure that said contracts are awarded on merit, impartially and in circumstances that do not involve impropriety and/or irregularity. The OCG does not award Government of Jamaica contracts.

2.  GOJ contracts are awarded by GOJ public bodies after approval by (a) the awarding public body and (b) the Accountable/Accounting Officer of the public body. It is also instructive to note that, depending upon the value of the contract, the recommendation for award must be further endorsed by the National Contracts Commission (NCC) and approved by the Cabinet, before the contract can be lawfully awarded by the awarding public body.  

3.  The rules that govern the award of GOJ contracts are embodied in the Government Procurement Procedures Handbook (GPPH) for contracts which are awarded pre-December 2008 and in the Revised Public Sector Procurement Procedures Handbook (RPPH) for contracts which are awarded post-November 2008. The referenced ‘Handbooks’ are developed, promulgated and approved by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and the Cabinet. 

4.  The general philosophy of the ‘Handbook’, and its embodied rules, is that the higher the value of the contract, the greater the level of scrutiny and the level of checks and balances which are brought to bear. In particular, the rules are premised on the principle that:

a.   Contracts should be procured/consummated in such a manner so as to ensure competitiveness, value for money, probity and transparency, etc. in the award process.

However, there are exceptions in the rules which permit contracts to be awarded without public competitive tendering. i.e., via a Sole Source, Direct Contracting or a Limited Tendering procurement methodology.

5.  In keeping with the value thresholds which were previously alluded to, the following should be noted:

a.   To bid on a government contract over J$275,000, the contractor must be first registered with the NCC. NCC registration ensures that contractors are legitimate, competent and adequately resourced to perform and/or to execute the contracts that are awarded to them;

b.   The NCC must endorse all contract recommendations over J$4 million pre-October 2008 and over J$10 million post-September 2008;

c.   Cabinet must approve all contracts valued at J$15 million and above pre-October 2008 and all contracts valued at J$30 million and above post-September 2008.

6.  In the case of the Sole Source procurement methodology, which is permissible under the rules, the following should be noted:

a.   Pre-October 2008, Public Bodies were required to seek and obtain the prior written approval of the NCC to enter in such contracts valued at J$1 million and above;

b.   Post-September 2008, Public Bodies are required to seek and to obtain the prior written approval of the NCC to enter in such contracts valued at J$3 million and above. 

7.  In the case of the Limited Tender procurement methodology, please note the following:

a.   Pre-October 2008, Public Bodies were required to seek and to obtain the prior written approval of the NCC to enter in such contracts valued at J$4 million and above;

b.   Post-September 2008, Public Bodies are required to seek and obtain the prior written approval of the NCC to enter in such contracts valued at J$10 million and above.

Procurement Methodologies

The GOJ procurement rules establishes and permits several types of procurement methodologies as are detailed below:

a.   Open/Selective Tender methodology (tender publicly advertised);

b.   Limited Tender methodology (only a specified number of NCC registered contractors are selected and invited by the public body to participate in the tender);

c.   Sole Source and Direct Contracting methodology (only one NCC registered contractor is selected and invited by the public body to participate in the tender);

d.   Emergency procurement (a contract can be awarded by a public body without the prior endorsement of the NCC or approval of the cabinet where “emergency circumstances” exist).

For each of the referenced procurement methodologies, the GOJ procurement rules will stipulate the approval requirements, the appropriate value thresholds and the relevant processes which must be employed by the procuring public body.

OCG Publications

In the interest of public transparency, the OCG regularly publishes, to the Media, particulars regarding Government contract award recommendations which have received the formal endorsement of the NCC. These particulars, together with other Government contract award particulars, are regularly posted on the OCG’s official web-sites and can be freely scrutinized or examined by you, the Media or by any other person, at any time.

Each month (usually by the 20^th day of the month), the OCG publishes to the Media a spreadsheet of the particulars of all Recommendations for the Award of Government contracts which have been endorsed by the NCC in the previous month. These monthly lists of NCC endorsements go back to June 2000.

Please note that prior to October 2008 the NCC minimum contract approval threshold was $4 Million. Post September 2008, the threshold was set by the Cabinet at $10 Million. To review these NCC endorsements, please click on this link: http://www.ocg.gov.jm/ocg/past_contracts.php

The OCG’s Quarterly Contract Award (QCA) Report Regime requires all of the country’s ~190 Procuring Public Bodies to submit to the OCG, within one month of the ending of each calendar year quarter, in spreadsheet format, particulars of the contracts which they have awarded during the quarter – in respect of contracts which value between $275,000 and the NCC minimum approval threshold value (i.e. $4 Million pre October 2008 and $10 Million post September 2008). The OCG’s database of these contract particulars currently covers contracts which were awarded between May 1, 2006 and June 30, 2010.

The database is constantly updated and refreshed with new data as it becomes available. To review the actual electronic QCA Reports which have been filed by each public body and uploaded on the OCG’s websites, please click on this link: http://www.ocg.gov.jm/ocg/qca_listing.php.

Should you wish to review or download a free searchable database of the QCA Report data which the OCG currently has on record, please click on this link: http://www.ocg.gov.jm/ocg/searchable_qca.php.

The above referenced databases give full particulars of the contracts which have been reportedly endorsed and/or awarded, inclusive of the name of the contractor, the value of the contract and the procurement methodology which was employed.

For further information regarding the Government Procurement Policy and Procedures, the Office of the Contractor General and matters which deal generally with the OCG’s work, please feel free to browse the OCG’s website at www.ocg.gov.jm.