15 April 2020
Carolyn Tremain
Chief Executive,
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
WELLINGTON
Dear Carolyn,
We are writing to you as the Functional Leader for government procurement.
Firstly, we would like to take the opportunity to applaud the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the existence of your Quick guide to emergency procurement, which has enabled critical supply chain agility at such a time of need.
As noted in the Guide, when quick decisions are necessary to move vast amounts of resources, the risk of fraud, bribery, and corruption increases. At this stage it is more important than ever to maintain accountability and transparency of government contracting and expenditure.
The Government Rules of Procurement (Rule 48) states that:
An agency must publish the contract award notice on GETS [Ed: The New Zealand Government Electronic Tenders Service] within 30 business days of all parties signing the contract(s).
For procurements undertaken during an emergency, the Guide states that the award of the contract still needs to be published on GETS as per the Rules, albeit retrospectively, together with a clear statement that it was an emergency procurement.
We consider it important that agencies are aware of, and meet, the expectations set out in the Rules and the Guide. We would encourage you to remind all public sector leaders of their accountability.
At TINZ we are fortunate to have procurement and supply chain expertise across both public and private sectors. We are happy to apply this expertise to support and complement your key accountability messages.
Carolyn, we are available to meet with you (via Zoom) to discuss how we can assist in maintaining the integrity of government procurement during these challenging times.
Kind Regards,
Julie Haggie
Chief Executive
Tod Cooper
Director
Procurement
Laurence Millar
Member with Delegated Authority
Open Government
