(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)   Approximately fifty public sector officers in Barbados were this week shown processes on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Public Procurement Electronic Notice Board. The engagement was held on Monday and Tuesday, 12-13 November and was geared towards assisting the procuring entities across the public sector and state-owned public sector organisations to initiate use of their National Advertising Portal to publish procurement opportunities and contract award notices.

Technical officers from the CARICOM Secretariat facilitated a two half-day training and orientation exercise with public sector managers and officers in Barbados on the use of the Community Public Procurement Electronic Notice Board.  Once Member States start using their portal, the public will be able to see procurement opportunities and contract award notices posted on the CARICOM Electronic Notice Board. This would give the business community an opportunity to bid on contracts for goods, services and works that fall within the scope of coverage of the Community Public Procurement Protocol; and other procurement opportunities once they meet the eligibility criteria.

The Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government recently mandated Member States participating in the CSME, to begin using their National Advertising Portals to advertise public procurement opportunities subject to their national laws, as soon as possible. These Member States were to also advise the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) by 30 September, 2018, that they had done so, or were willing to, or prepared to do so.

The training this week in Barbados took place at the Baobab Towers in Warrens.