What’s working in government procurement, what are the challenges and how can we streamline the current process?

That’s what the public and private sector gathered to discuss at the Guam Chamber of Commerce’s procurement summit.

Ernie Galito is the chamber’s former chairman.

“There’s been stories and stories about how certain projects in the government of Guam have been held up in protest, so we’re trying to get to the root cause of what some of these protests rely on,” said Galito.

Procurement impacts everything from infrastructure projects and public health to education and emergency response.

But Guam procurement law is a major concern.

“There’s too many rules and some of the rules are outdated. Some of them are not practical. If you read the law, there is a lot of ambiguity. There is no one specific authority to sign on behalf of the Government of Guam,” added Galito.

This causes vendors to struggle with compliance or disagree over contract awards, causing delay for months.

There have been several attempts in past legislatures to amend the law, some even authored by Public Auditor BJ Cruz, who was the keynote speaker.

“All the sides kept fighting. We got through the legislature and one agency would say this is not going to work for their agency, went to the governor and got it vetoed. And it was killed. So I said I would give up trying to pass it from the legislature,” said Cruz.

Cruz established a procurement advisory council in 2011 that is meant to send annual reports to the legislature to improve the procurement law, but he says that isn’t being done.

Speaker Frank Blas Jr. agrees the law needs to change.

“Some of these laws haven’t been changed in the last 50, 60 and 70 years. Not taking into consideration the technological considerations that have occurred. So this is a discussion that has been a long time coming,” said Spkr. Blas.

After the summit, the chamber will create a summary of findings that will be published on their website for public comment. Then, it will be sent to the legislature for their review.