Contracts Are Scrutinized Before They Are Awarded

Today’s procurement workshop, hosted by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing and international lending agencies, illuminated the stringent processes that contracting parties must follow. The workshop also emphasized the transparency of contracts, which the ministry makes publicly available. However, when asked about allegations of inflated contracts, the minister explained that contracts undergo rigorous scrutiny at multiple levels before being awarded to a contractor.

 

Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development, Housing

“I don’t think you can ever one hundred percent debunk it. It is what people perceive it to be. We can only open it up as best as we can so that you can see the process and ask the questions and participate, look at the procedure, and that’s why we have the valuation. When we do an evaluation of a contract. It is the engineers from the Ministry of Infrastructure, it is the financial consultants from the Ministry of Finance; it is the consultants from IDB or CDB, their people participate. So it goes through different levels of scrutiny before it is awarded.”