The government refines procurement procedures, industry leaders are expected to raise concerns and suggest modifications during a consultation meeting between the Department of Procurement and Properties and contractors on December 3. Simplifying the regulations and guaranteeing more fair terms for contractors nationwide are anticipated to be the main topics of these talks. According to the president of the Construction Association of Bhutan, some people are struggling with non-performing loans, while others are getting loan deferments until June of next year. One of the main concerns brought up is that direct contract awarding circumvents the official procurement procedure and compromises the PRR. According to Trashi Wangyal, although contracts under Nu 1.5 million can be awarded directly, this has caused bigger contracts to be divided into smaller sums in order to get around the regulations.
Trashi Wangyal suggested that the government control the number of contractors based on performance in order to alleviate the market’s oversaturation and guarantee that only competent contractors be awarded projects. He emphasized that real job projects should be provided to these contractors so they may demonstrate their competence. In order to assess contractors’ abilities, the contractors are also pleading with the government to start third-party quality monitoring of the job. Additionally, the contractors have urged the government to streamline procurement regulations, particularly in the wake of the epidemic. Three hundred of the 2,800 contractors in the nation are major and medium-sized contractors. The industry employs more than 10,000 individuals.
