Photo taken from Facebook.comBy Syauqi Jamil
KUALA LUMPUR: A non governmental organization today urged the current government to conduct assessments, surveys and cost benefit analysis before on their future procurements.
Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) who launched their ‘Procurement as part of good governance in new Malaysia’ report earlier today said that the report should also be made public.
However, the it stressed that Defense Ministry procurement which may involve sensitive national security informations should be made classified though recommending that a Parliamentary Select Committee be established to review the reports.
This was one of 17 recommendations made by C4 in their report.
Still on Defense procurement, C4 also urged the government to establish a special Ombudsman Office just like the one pioneered by North Korea, to avoid any foul play within the ministry.
“To prevent a conflict of interest, a person appointed to the Ombudsman’s office or they’re family members must not have worked for a defense company or research institute for the last two years,” said the report.
Among other things, the report also recommends Putrajaya to publish their decision in awarding a contract along with justifications for the particular selection or rejection.
This was due to the interest of transparency and to instil public confidence in decision making of the procuring agency
“The decision of contract award in all public procurement should be made public in the one stop e-procurement portal, complete with the name of the company awarded, the price, the date of commencement and completion of project and the features and justification for the selection of the successful bidder and the reason for the rejection,” the report reads.
C4 had also recommend the government to strengthen the role of the Auditor General’s Office in public procurement, by granting it power to conduct external audit of government agencies on their compliance with official public procurement policy and rules.
They said that such audit excercise should be conducted regularly and systematically to cover as many government agencies as possible throughout the year to identify problems before it deteriorates.
The full report can be accessed online at https://c4center.org/procurement-report
