• New Director Taraq Bashir brings rich experience to his job, having worked across four continents and the Caribbean.
• He has developed procurement functions in national and local government including strategies, laws and regulations.
• Mr. Bashir’s work has been recognised with industry awards for customer service, quality and innovation.

Grand Cayman (GIS) – Director at the Central Procurement Office (CPO), Mr. Taraq Bashir is passionate about the opportunities that his new position brings to improve service and procure considerable savings for the Cayman Islands Government in its purchases of goods and services.

The newly hired senior civil servant brings to his challenging job considerable experience, gleaned over nearly 30 years in both the private and public sectors in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean.

A British national, Mr. Bashir delivered hefty savings for a number of the entities across these countries. For instance at a London authority, he helped slash procurement costs and contract renegotiations by £46 million.

He has also developed professional procurement functions at the national and local government levels, including strategies, laws and regulations.

Indeed from his earliest appointment as a management consultant, Mr. Bashir used his expertise in developing strategies and implementing change programmes to deliver quality of service improvements and cost savings across a variety of manufacturing sectors in the UK, Canada and France.

Mr. Bashir has also served in top procurement positions where he helped secure cost savings in the London Boroughs of Redbridge and Bexley, the RBS Group in the UK, the Lavendon Group plc in the UK covering its Europe and Middle East operations. He has also worked in Canada, Germany and Turkey.

In his last job prior to arriving in the Cayman Islands, as Head of Procurement for the Government of Montserrat he helped review, develop and implement key reforms of the Overseas Territory’s procurement regulations.

While there, he also tested and completed the implementation of an electronic procurement system within four months of taking over as head, with a view to increase efficiency, transparency, integrity, openness and accountability of the island’s procurement process.

He is equally enthusiastic about developing influencing and coaching skills, building industry leading solutions and consistently improving negotiating and commercial awareness skills, in both the organisations he works — for the benefit of staff there and for his own personal growth.

His work while at the RBS Group won him “World Class” accolades when his supplier management methodologies were assessed by Warwick University under the British Excellence Model frameworks.

Additionally, his formulated vision and the negotiations he led with various suppliers for RBS won industry awards for innovation. Similarly, his work with the group’s mail and logistics network that improved service levels by 300% and saved 10% of the group’s cost per year won industry awards for quality and customer service.

In welcoming Mr. Bashir to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Financial Secretary and Chief Officer, Mr. Kenneth Jefferson said, “I look forward to Mr Bashir achieving cost savings for the Public Sector; whilst allowing all bidders a fair opportunity to supply the Public Sector with the goods and services it requires; and, in so doing, bring about increased public confidence that the procurement process is fair and will result in benefits for the Cayman Islands.”

Expressing his pleasure at now serving in the Cayman Islands, Mr. Bashir commented, “I’m already enjoying the beauty of the Cayman Islands and the warmth of its people. I’m also looking forward to helping my colleagues deliver outstanding customer experiences by the Civil Service of the Cayman Islands.”

The Director said that he is currently on the quest to recruiting a local degree graduate with a passion for procurement to complete the government procurement team; a person, he added, the department can develop and train to exacting industry standards.

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Photo caption Photo by Bina Mani, GIS

Mr. Taraq Bashir, who heads the CIG Central Procurement Office, is an industry award winning professional who has served in public and private sectors across four continents and the Caribbean.