A think-tank has conducted a study on transparency in government procurement and has identified the causes behind the repeated problems cited in audit reports.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive Wan Saiful Wan Jan noted the problems as:

- inadequate procurement planning

- poor drafting of specifications,

- insufficient use of open competitive tendering

- lack of monitoring and evaluation.

 

Wan Saiful Wan Jan (2) "Having more comprehensive transparency measures such as addressing political interference and the use of open tenders as opposed to direct negotiation practices would help to address the inefficiencies of our current procurement system.  

"We also have multiple online government tendering portals. It would be better if these portals are unified and more information supplied so that the online systems can be used as mechanism for transparency too," he said.

Wan Saiful also said that there was a need to be transparent in the disclosure of procurement planning, and non-performing contractors and suppliers.

"Taking best practices from around the world would mean allowing outside observers, such as representatives from the Auditor General’s Office, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and relevant business or non-government organisations to attend procurement board meetings," he added.

 

Wan Saiful also expressed concern with the revelations in the Auditor-General’s Report 2012 that unveiled how millions of ringgit was wasted by different government ministries through inefficient and inappropriate spending.

 

"I applaud the continued efforts by the Auditor-General Ambrin Buang for his thorough and dedicated work. It is unfortunate that these facts are reported year after year, when in fact immediate action should be taken to avoid this from recurring.

 

"Numerous examples have already been cited, which include (out of many other instances) 20 wall clocks being bought by the Department of Broadcasting for several RTM branches for RM3,810 each, 38 times more than the estimated RM100 each, or even three A4 size scanners that were bought for RM14,670 a unit, more than 70 times the estimated price of RM200 each. Other examples are equally shocking," he added.

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