Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1331728
21.01.2021 4 NEWS NICOLE MEILAK NON-COMPLIANT operators should be blacklisted from public procurement, the Chamber of Commerce is proposing in a newly released document. e proposal is one of 36 recommen- dations made in the report Public Pro- curement Reform that was published yesterday. e document touches on market re- search, performance of public contracts, and the use of direct orders in public procurement. However, the over-arch- ing principle is that better transparency and complaince is needed in all steps of the procurement process. Chamber President David Xuereb said the document builds on the report published last year on ethical business, which provided a manifesto for good governance as the political turmoil in 2019 came to close. "e document serves as valuable guid- ance for the necessary reforms that are needed in order to ensure that econom- ic operators are on a level playing field when tendering for government pur- chasing opportunities," Xuereb said. Clement Mifsud-Bonnici, who was ap- pointed as technical advisor on the re- port, emphasised the need for a stronger culture of compliance, and in turn the blacklisting of any economic operators that have breached the law. "Compliance with the law comes at a cost. It's not right that certain economic operators remain compliant while others don't," he said. Mifsud-Bonnici argued that there is scope for public authorities, including the Department of Contracts and the Inland Revenue Department, to create systems of seamless integration to pre- vent economic operators from submit- ting any bids if they have pending social security or tax dues, and if there is no settlement agreement in place. "Companies should submit audit- ed financial statements with the Malta Business Registry in the timeframe as required by law. If not done, the con- tracting authorities should be allowed to blacklist that bidder," he explained. e Chamber highlighted that direct orders can be a useful tool in public pro- curement, but it recommended that any directly-awarded public contracts should be justified and published through a con- tract register, and should be subject to public scrutiny with interested parties given the opportunity to challenge them. As things stand, interest parties who wish to challenge a direct order can de- clare a contract ineffective. e major difficulty associated with this is that it does not apply to direct orders below the financial thresholds set by EU Directives, and one can only declare it ineffective within six months from when the public contract is signed. e Chamber recommended that the monitoring of public contracts should be a burden shared between the public and private sector, with any variations to the tender published in a register. e register would be designed to show any historic modifications to public con- tracts, and would act as a record showing all necessary approvals that have been obtained and a summary of the justifica- tion for the public contract. According to the Chamber, such a reg- ister would help keep tabs on the status of a public contract, whether any payments were made, whether specific milestones have been reached by the contractor and whether any disputes have been submit- ted to judicial resolution or arbitration. e Chamber called for more thorough market research before drafting a tender. ey suggested the use of preliminary market consultations to ensure that con- tracting authorities are aware of the mar- ket and the services or products available to them. During the press conference Dr Mifsud-Bonnici had remarked that at least 60% of members felt that the re- search done by the contracting author- ity was inaccurate. In light of this, the Chamber recommends that government utilise a panel of experts across different industries that can be consulted when drafting tenders. If this is not possible, the Chamber said that the technical expertise ought to be outsourced. e document has since been present- ed to Prime Minister Robert Abela and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana. It was further forwarded to the Principal Per- manent Secretary, the Department of Contracts, and the Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Finance. Xuereb said the Chamber will be meet- ing with every contracting authority to clarify the proposals put forward in the report. MALTA CHAMBER'S PUBLIC PROCUREMENT REFORM REPORT 'Non-compliant operators should be blacklisted' A lack of community officers and the ab- sence of public funding towards LESA have been flagged in an audit report un- dertaken by the National Audit Office. e purpose of the audit was the de- termine whether the agency is suitably geared to perform its traffic enforcement function adequately. e NAO raised concern over the ab- sence of a financial allocation from cen- tral government, which means that LESA has to rely solely on the revenue it gener- ates from the issuance of contraventions in order to finance its operations. "is is compounded by the legal obli- gation of the agency to redistribute any net surpluses among local councils," the audit team noted. NAO found that the agency has been unable to recruit the number of com- munity officers (COs) it contends are re- quired. However, it pointed out that the exact quantity of LESA's ideal comple- ment, and allocation across the country, has not been validated through a com- prehensive study. "Such an exercise would ascertain a more efficient, effective and risk-oriented allocation of officers," the office noted. NAO also highlighted concerns on the quality of some of LESA's community of- ficers, particularly their lack of basic soft skills. "As Community Officers are the primary point of contact between the agency and the general public, this Of- fice feels that this issue is having a neg- ative impact on LESA's projected image. is concern is further compounded as a number of these individuals also lack basic technical skills and do not exhibit the willingness to address such short- comings." Despite an extensive informations ystem, there is no systematic or formal process by which community officers are monitored. e audit team remarked that the monitoring undertaking could be more analytical. "e audit team found that significant gaps prevailed in LESA's coverage over the local arterial road network, insofar as speed cameras are concerned," NAO said. "Furthermore, this Office observed that the agency has as yet never com- missioned a study which accurately de- termines all the areas in which CCTV or speed cameras are required on a national level." NAO commended LESA for commis- sioning a Cost Benefit Analysis to deter- mine whether the current arrangement through which CCTV and speed camer- as are procured presents good value of money compared with other options. "Notwithstanding, NAO notes that, as at time of writing, the results of this CBA (which concluded that an alternative ar- rangement would present better value for money) have not as yet been fully im- plemented, even after a year had already elapsed since its completion, thereby possibly eroding this exercise's validity." NAO flags absence of funding and lack of officers in LESA audit