Kingston; December 20, 2012 – The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) has taken note of recent public statements which have been attributed to the Hon. Anthony Hylton, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, in which he contended that arising from a Public Procurement Stakeholders Meeting, which was held on December 7, 2012, there is a ‘consensus among stakeholder groups’ that the OCG is a hindrance to economic development in Jamaica and that this conclusion was arrived at subsequent to consultations which included both the National Contracts Commission (NCC) and the OCG.

The OCG wishes to publicly place upon record that while it was invited by the Ministry of Finance and Planning to, inter alia, participate in discussions geared at ‘facilitating meaningful dialogue pertaining to the GOJ’s public procurement system’, it, in no way expressed, nor does it support, any assertions and/or sentiments that its Office is a hindrance to economic development in Jamaica.

On the contrary, the OCG, as a creature of statute, which is commissioned by the Parliament of Jamaica, executes its mandates in accordance with the rules and regulations developed by the GOJ and, as it relates to the Registration of Government Contractors, the requirements and provisions which are stipulated by the NCC, to whom the OCG provides technical, administrative and secretarial support.

The OCG considers the Minister’s statements and any such view to be extremely unfortunate and, at best, misguided, since it has been repeatedly echoed, certainly on the part of the OCG, that it neither developed nor promulgated the rules,  laws and/or regulations governing the Registration of Government Contractors or that which governs public procurement. Minister Hylton’s statements run contrary to the OCG’s expressed view that ‘Jamaica’s economic development must be pursued in a sustainable and responsible manner, and within an appropriate system of institutionalized independent checks and balances which will ensure probity, transparency, accountability and value for money’.

In the circumstances, and in the interest of clarity and public transparency, the OCG has taken the decision to attach, herewith, the full contents of a letter which was dated December 10, 2012, and which was sent by its Office to the Hon. Horace Dalley, Minister without Portfolio, in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, and copied to the Hon. Anthony Hylton, in which it outlined, amongst other things, several recommendations and positions aimed at improving the Contractor Registration Process.

The OCG considers the foregoing statement to be careless and reckless since it has the potential to undermine a Commission established by the Parliament of Jamaica to ensure, amongst other things, probity in the Government’s contracting process and thereby urges the Hon. Anthony Hylton, or anyone else, to produce the evidence to the People of Jamaica that the OCG, in discharge of its lawful mandate, is an impediment to economic development.

The foregoing disclosure is being publicly made by the OCG pursuant to the powers that are reserved to a Contractor General by Section 24 (1) (b) of the Contractor General Act.