by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - The Guam Chamber of Commerce procurement committee and the Guam Bar Association held a seminar this morning on the analysis of Guam's procurement law history to discover who really holds authority to do what in the procurement system.

The Misconceptions of Procurement Autonomy seminar featured procurement committee chairman John Thomas Brown, who says after going through the history of procurement law on Guam, discovered government agencies may not necessarily have all the authority they think they might have. He says some agencies may have procurement authority to procure goods, supplies and construction but not all services.

He explained, "And that's what I really want to do is have an intelligent debate about procurement. Now it's up to them, I've made my case if they believe they have some of the authorities that I say don't, it's time for them to come forward with their arguments and their evidence."

The seminar was attended by lawyers, government agencies, the current and former chief justices, senators and the business community. Brown says knowing which procurement powers agencies really have will make it simpler and possibly save both vendors and the government money.