Senate approves amendment to Public Procurement Act

The Public Procurement (Amendment) Act 2025, which aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in the country’s procurement process, was approved in the Senate recently.

The legislation was approved with four amendments.

Piloting the Bill, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator  Aubyn Hill, explained that it will significantly advance the Government’s reform agenda and transform very positively the public procurement landscape in Jamaica.

“I would like to reiterate the importance the Government attaches to amending the Public Procurement Act. It is necessary to (a) correct conceptual and fundamental deficiencies in the act; (b) to clarify the law concerning methods of public procurement approvals and value limits established under the Act; (c) to repeal provisions pertaining to sector committees; (d) introduce the concept of levels of competition in public procurement and (e) provide for additional works, goods and services to be exempt from the generally applicable public procurement processes under the Act,” he said.

He explained that the Procurement Act, which came into being in 2015, has proven to be a difficult piece of legislation to navigate in procuring products and services for government entities, even if in concept it was necessary.

“Many have complained quite vociferously publicly and very often that it appears that the Procurement Act of 2015 seemed to have been based on the premise that all Jamaicans are not honest, while waving the banner of value for money and transparency,” Hill said.

“Many Jamaicans make the argument that this quite draconian procurement process that was passed into law has been much a hindrance to the procurement and development process as it has been useful in securing value for money,” Senator Hill said.

In supporting the legislation, Leader of Opposition Business, Senator Peter Bunting, said the changes will address administrative inefficiency.
 “It’s impatient of debate that we need to remove as much of the bureaucratic delays and administrative bottlenecks as we can from the whole government administrative system, not simply procurement,” he said.

Senators Marlon Morgan and Sherene Golding Campbell also contributed to the debate.