Through its two (2) Inspectorates, which comprised an average of ten (10) inspectors in 2007, and its Technical Services, Information Systems and Corporate Services Departments, the OC-G achieved several key performance milestones in calendar year 2007 whilst transitioning to its newly revised organisational structure that has seen the boosting of the capacity of its human and budgetary resources.

 

The OCG’s attainments were driven primarily by its strategic and operating objectives of (a) transforming itself into a ‘best in class’ organization, (b) preventing corruption in Government procurement, (c) ensuring compliance with the Government’s procurement procedures and guidelines and (d) significantly enhancing transparency and probity in the public sector contract award process. Among the key attainments were the following:

 

• Continued the successful implementation of its Quarterly Contracts Award (QCA) Report Regime, which became effective with contracts awarded as of May 1, 2006. This unprecedented and ground-breaking anti-corruption initiative has significantly enhanced the capacity of the OCG to monitor the procurement and contract award activities of the country’s ~180 Procuring Public Bodies.
  
  The implementation of the OCG’s QCA Reporting Regime positioned the OCG to directly monitor and/or investigate over 10,000 Government contract awards annually in a value range of $250,000 to infinity. This contrasts starkly with the pre-existing state-of-affairs, where for example, in 2005 the OCG monitored only 322 contracts. By comparison, in addition to the OC-G conducting sustained monitoring of some 322 contracts island-wide in 2007, the particulars of 8,718 contract awards, totalling approximately $9 Billion, were reported via its QCA Report Regime.
  
  This unprecedented performance achievement is due, in large part, to the OC-G’s implementation of a Zero Tolerance Policy against Public Bodies and Public Officials who fail to comply with the QCA Requisition. This Policy took hold in 2007, and in this year, the OC-G made 95 formal referrals to the DPP covering 68 delinquent public bodies. The OC-G’s unrelenting enforcement of its Zero Tolerance Policy literally transformed the pervasive culture of non-compliance – which was previously commonplace in the Jamaica Public Sector – to one of virtual compliance.

• Monitored scores of tenders and the procurement processes of Public Bodies, both on a routine and general basis as well as in greater depth as the need arose.

 

• Conducted 901 physical contractor site verification visits vs. 782 in 2006 and 526 in 2005.

 

• Travelled 168,206 (Inspector) km to perform its monitoring, investigation and contractor verification functions

 

• Attended, facilitated and fully supported 47 weekly meetings of the NCC vs. 45 meetings which were supported in 2006.

 

• Monitored 155 NCC Sector Committee meetings.

 

• Provided all requisite technical, administrative and secretarial support resources for the NCC to comprehensively evaluate, scrutinize and endorse 584  Government contract award recommendations of $4 million in value and over, vs. 575 endorsements in 2006. The aggregated value of these 584 contracts was J$31.45 Billion.

 

• Processed applications for 1,524 goods and services contractors and 610 works contractors, vs. 1,052 and 468 contractors, respectively, in 2006.

 

• Commenced the publication of all QCA Reports received by the OC-G on its website (www.ocg.gov.jm). These QCA Reports, which were ultimately published, had to be first approved as being satisfactory for electronic upload.
  
  This pivotal achievement is the crystallisation of a commitment made by the OC-G in its 2006 Annual Report and it adds immeasurably to the already unprecedented levels of transparency, and thus probity and accountability, which the Regime has now imposed upon the Jamaica Public Procurement and Contract Award process. Effectively, it has allowed anyone, for the first time, to scrutinise these Government contract award particulars on the OC-G’s official website.

• Conducted and completed 11 Special Statutory Investigations, while at year’s end, others were at various stages of completion. Four (4) of these investigations were the subject of special reports which were submitted to Parliament during the calendar year. The complete contents of these four (4) Investigation Reports were also made public by the OC-G, and are available for viewing and or download from the OC-G’s website at www.ocg.gov.jm. This continues from the record fifteen (15) Special Investigations completed by the OC-G in 2006, and compares strikingly with the three (3) year period preceding this, when only two (2) special investigations were completed by the OCG.

 

• Retooled and advanced its system for capturing every Public Body tender advertisement which appears in the local print media on a daily basis. This initiative has allowed the OC-G to significantly expand its monitoring and coverage of the procurements undertaken by the Jamaica Public Sector. A significant advantage of this system is that it has allowed the OC-G to intervene and guide Procuring Agencies in correcting their errors, at earlier stages of the procurement cycles, which would, in effect, forestall the awarding of irregular contracts.

 

• Commenced the Organisational Restructuring and the Relocation of the OC-G to much larger physical accommodations to house what would become an expanded OC-G organisation. This follows formal representations that were made to Government in 2006 for the restructuring of the OCG to (a) strengthen its human and budgetary resources and (b) restructure its organization to enable it to more effectively and efficiently discharge its several mandates under the Contractor General Act.
  
  These formal representations were prompted by critical staff shortages at the OCG and a less than acceptable deficit of resources and budgetary support. These conditions were not altogether surprising, given that the organisational structure of the OCG was last revised by Parliament, and its constituent staffing positions reviewed and reclassified, in May 1999.
  
  The efforts of the OCG to have the situation addressed ultimately culminated in an agreement which was struck between the OCG and the Public Sector Reform Unit (PSRU) of the Office of the Cabinet to undertake a joint restructuring assessment of the organization, operations and resources of the OCG.
  
  The assessment, which was formally commenced on May 9, 2006, was completed in mid-July 2006. The final and agreed OCG restructuring proposals, which include a significant increase in the OCG’s annual budget and the expansion of its present head count from approx. 46 to 64, have been formally approved for implementation in the latter part of the 2007/2008 Government financial year.
  
  The OC-G established a Relocation Committee to plan and prosecute the relocation effort. The OC-G negotiated the lease of one floor of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) Building and thereafter, engaged the services of an Architect and Contractor for the design and building out of the office facilities respectively. Work on the new offices commenced in 2007 and was completed in March 2008.
  
  Needless to say, the OC-G scrupulously adhered to the rules of the GPPH in its procurement of contracts for the design and building of its new offices. Likewise, the OC-G received all requisite NCC endorsements and Cabinet approvals for all related contracts which fell within the relevant value ranges.

 

• Prepared and submitted its 446 page 2007 annual operating report to Parliament in July 2008. This continues the OC-G’s tradition of the last three years, of submitting its annual reports within 12 months of the ending of the year to which they relate. Outside of this period, this had only been done once before when the OC-G submitted its 1998 annual report in July 1999.
  
  Significantly too, the 2007 Annual Report broke new ground as the OC-G continued to explore ways of improving the depth and substance of the information which it provided to the Parliament and the People of Jamaica in its Annual Reports. Each year, the OC-G has been steadily increasing the volume of information it has been presenting in its Annual Reports, and this has substantially enhanced their probative value. Additional distinctive elements of the report this year were the inclusion of photographs of works projects which had fallen under the scrutiny of the OC-G during the year, as well as the inclusion of a table which summarises the details of the 2007 Quarterly Contract Award (QCA) Report submissions of Public Bodies in 2007.

• Issued a total of seven (7) Letters to the Editors and twenty-three (23) Media Releases to the local mainstream print and electronic media, in an effort to educate, update and/or inform the nation about certain OC-G issues, initiatives, positions and concerns, including OC-G Special Investigations, OC-G Referrals to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and Public Sector procurement related issues which were in the public domain, among others

 

• Continued to utilise the OC-G’s web-site as the primary medium by which the members of the Public, the Media, Parliament, the Government, Public Bodies, Contractors and other stakeholders, are able to gain full electronic access to a host of relevant information regarding the activities, functions and requirements of the OCG and the National Contracts Commission (NCC). Importantly too, the utilisation of this medium attains the declared objective of the OC-G of enhancing transparency in the Jamaican public sector procurement process.

 

• Implemented a phased schedule to replace most of the existing computers at the OC-G, after an audit that was conducted in 2007 to ascertain the levels of functionality of the OC-G’s computer and information technology network, confirmed that replacements were needed.
  
  Moreover, the OC-G continued with its re-engineering of the CMS -- an “in-house” created data gathering/management system that manages the NCC’s contractor registration and contract endorsement operations as well as the OC-G’s monitoring functions -- to better serve the internal and external operating functions of the OC-G.

• Responded to twenty (20) written Complaints or Requests related to Public Bodies procurement issues, which were received by the OC-G during the year. Twelve (12) of these Complaints subsequently became the subject of Special OC-G Investigations.

 

• Proposed a number of specific revisions to the Contractor-General Act that were tabled in the form of recommendations at a meeting convened on October 30, 2007 at the direction of the Prime Minister under the Chairmanship of the Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office

 

• Continued implementation of a comprehensive suite of safety, security and emergency procedures and initiatives which are aimed at protecting life and property at the OCG.

 

• Commenced the development and implementation of a number of programmes, procedures and mechanisms which are directed at improving staff welfare at the OCG as well as the OCG’s overall staff performance, all in an effort to ensure that the OCG attains its strategic and operating objectives.