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.