Jakarta to test e-procurement
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a bid to minimize irregularities in city procurements, the Jakarta administration plans to test an online system for the procurement of goods and services in a number of city agencies starting next February.
"We will try to use the online system for small procurements in city agencies, including the procurement of office supplies, car batteries, tires and other disposable goods that have values of only up to a couple of billion rupiah," Jakarta Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said on Wednesday.
Fauzi said that the tryout of the e-procurement system was part of the effort to improve the monitoring city spending as the system promised a "quicker, more accurate, transparent, efficient, and fairer process".
He acknowledged that the current procurement system was wide open to corruption and collusion as bidders and procurement officers and committees were able to engage in direct contact, which could lead to price-fixing through backroom negotiations.
"Hopefully, this (online) system will minimize the opportunity for such loopholes," he said.
The Jakarta administration will not be the public institution to apply the online system. It is already being used by several government institutions, including the Surabaya administration, state ship building firm PT PAL Indonesia, state port operator PT Angkasa Pura I and PT Angkasa Pura II, airline PT Merpati Nusantara, yellow pages firm PT Elnusa and survey firm PT Sucofindo.
"We have conducted a feasibility study on various aspects, learning from the failures and successes of the institutions applying the system," the administration said in a press statement.
It held an initial trial run on Dec. 23.
Boasting that the system is user-friendly and would provide better services, the administration said that it would provide training to the public servants involved in the project, to bidders representatives, and members of the public in order to ensure the success of the program.
For the first stage of the program's implementation, the administration will limit the use of the online system to the submission of bids up to the negotiating stage.
The whole process will become fully operational in mid-2006 with all of the relevant stages being gone through online.
The administration also plans to gradually integrate the online system with other systems in the administration and other governmental institutions.