Govt to promote e-procurement
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will start to implement e-procurement for procuring goods among its agencies by the end of the year in a bid to promote transparency.
"I hope we can finalize the preparations and regulation framework in November. Then, such procurement could be carried out," said Agus Rahardjo, the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas)'s director of financing systems and procedures.
Speaking at a seminar on procurement tenders held by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) on Monday, Agus said the government was determined to promote e-procurement as the process would be more transparent, quicker and easier to monitor by the public and the KPPU.
"Learning from other countries' experiences, e-procurement can significantly reduce government spending," he said, citing South Korea as an example in which the country could save 25 percent of the government's US$61 billion spending on procurement.
Indonesia, he added, spent Rp 90 trillion (US$8.28 billion) and $5 billion for goods procurement in the oil and gas sector.
Agus pointed to the implementation of Presidential Decree No. 80/2003 on guidelines for the government's procurement that has been successful.
"The implementation of the decree has helped to halve regional administrations' procurement budgets, about 50 percent lower than their estimation," he said, pointing to the success of Jakarta, Central Java and Surabaya in implementing transparent biddings.
The decree stipulates that government tenders have to be announced through several national media, allowing sufficient time for companies to participate in the bidding.
"If a tender is participated in by more than 15 companies, it will be hard to make concessions," he said, referring to collusion between government officials and companies.
Meanwhile, KPPU member Soy Matua Pardede said the implementation of Law No. 5/1999 on antimonopoly and unfair business competition, which also prohibits conspiracy in tenders, was still far from prefect.
"Many government agencies and businesses have not even heard about the law. They still continue to use collusion in biddings," he told the seminar.
Pardede said KPPU, which handles more than 150 cases of unfair business competition, often found collusion in tenders but businesses widely accepted it as they saw it as the only way to win a bid from government agencies.
"Disseminating information on the antimonopoly law is a must so that we can build better business competition in the country," he said. (006)