Govt to revise ruling on procurement
Govt to revise ruling on procurement
Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) is drafting a revision to a presidential decree on public procurement in the hope of putting an end to flourishing illegal practices in procurement at government institutions.
The director for the system and procedure of development funding at Bappenas, Agus Rahardjo, said on Friday that the new decree would increase the supervision aspect in the procurement process.
He said the public would be included in the supervision.
"The current regulation excludes the public from the process. It only involves the government and the private sector, as users and providers respectively. That's why KKN practices are so rampant," he told reporters, referring to corruption, collusion and nepotism.
The current legal basis for the procurement process is stipulated in Presidential Decree no. 18/2000.
Although a thorough investigation has yet to be conducted by his office, Agus added, massive leakages did occur at every level of the procurement process.
"This is supported by data gathered by various institutions, both domestic and international."
In a report distributed to the media, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank stated that corruption in equipment procurement at government institutions was the most tainted with corruption.
The World Bank even suggested that the leakage in the process could reach up to 50 percent of all funds allocated for procurement.
Given the huge amount of money set aside each year for public procurement: "You can imagine the damage it would do to the country.
"This is strategic because this involves development projects. So, if the projects are abused, especially with that huge figure, it would have a big impact on the country's development sustainability," Sarwedi, a consultant for Bappenas in its anticorruption drive, said.
Due to the strategic nature of procurement, the state budget allocates a huge sum for it.
Last year for example, Bappenas estimated that total funds allocated for public procurement for the central government alone totaled Rp 67.3 billion, or 20 percent of the state budget's expenditures.
Elsewhere, Agus also disclosed that the new decree would pave the way also for the establishment of a national public procurement office, which would be in charge of any procurement- related activities.
"But what's more important is that the office will be tasked with preparing a bill on procurement. Unlike the current decree, which only stresses procedural matters, the law would also enable us to determine punishment for those violating the procedures," Agus said.