IC says 69% of Gov’t contracts awarded without competition

Nearly seven in every 10 Government contracts recorded in 2025 were awarded through single-source procurement, while hundreds of same-day awards to individual contractors collectively exceeded the applicable award limits, according to the Integrity Commission (IC). The findings are contained in the commission’s special report to Parliament titled ‘Public Procurement in Jamaica: Key Trends and Issues — Contract Awards in 2025, with Trends from 2006 to 2025’, which was tabled in the House on Tuesday. The report found that 23,234 of the 33,583 contracts reported by public bodies in 2025 were awarded through single-source procurement, including emergency contracting. The contracts were valued at $91.8 billion, representing 27.3 per cent of the total $336.4 billion awarded during the year. By comparison, open competitive bidding — which allows eligible suppliers to compete for Government contracts — accounted for just 4.1 per cent of contracts by number, although it represented 19 per cent of their total value. The commission said the figures reflected a long-standing pattern, with single-source procurement accounting for about two-thirds of Government contracts by number every year since 2017. Under single-source procurement, a public body awards a contract without inviting competing bids through an open tender. The method is permitted in certain circumstances, but the Public Procurement Act makes open competition the general rule. Director of investigation at the IC, Kevon Stephenson, said the extent of single-source procurement could not be explained simply by the type of goods or services being purchased. “Legal services, software licences and subscriptions, and specialised professional services such as forensic, audit and advisory work account for only 7.6 per cent of single-source awards, and training for a further 2.3 per cent. About 88 per cent are routine purchases of goods, services and works, of which 88.5 per cent were each valued at $3 million or less; the remainder are emergency contracts,” he wrote in the report. “The prevalence of single- source procurement is therefore not explained by the nature of the requirements, but by the routine use of the method for purchases of lower value,” he added. The commission’s concerns extend beyond the overall use of the method to the way some contracts were awarded. It identified 1,618 instances in which two or more single- source contracts were awarded to the same contractor on the same day. These involved 4,317 contracts valued at $11.5 billion. In 416 of those instances, the combined value of the same-day awards exceeded the applicable single-source limit, even though each individual contract was within that limit. Those cases involved 1,619 contracts valued at $2.9 billion. The commission said the pattern was spread across all four quarters of 2025 and was not therefore explained by Hurricane Melissa, which left extensive damage across sections of Jamaica last October. Stephenson said the findings required closer examination but did not establish that the contracts had been improperly divided. “Such patterns may reflect legitimate arrangements, including the issue of separate purchase orders for discrete work packages and the urgent engagement of contractors after an emergency. They may equally indicate the division of a single requirement into smaller contracts so as to remain within the limits for single-source procurement, which section 25G of the Public Procurement Act prohibits. These instances warrant examination by the appropriate authorities,” Stephenson wrote. The report also identified 3,052 single-source awards worth $51.6 billion that exceeded the applicable single- source threshold in force when they were awarded. Under the law, single-source procurement above the threshold is permitted only in specified circumstances. However, the commission said the quarterly reports submitted by public bodies did not state which legal grounds had been relied on for those awards, meaning their compliance could not be assessed from the records alone. The thresholds changed during 2025. Until May 15, the single-source limits were $1.5 million for goods and services and $2 million for works. They were subsequently increased to $3 million for goods and services and $5 million for works. The commission stressed that being within a threshold does not mean a public body must use single-source procurement. More competitive methods remain available where practical. In its recommendations, the report calls for public bodies to seek competing quotations for lower-value purchases wherever possible and to record the reasons when they choose single-source procurement despite competition being practicable. It also recommends that the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service evaluate the effect of the 2025 changes to procurement thresholds and approval limits after a full year of operation, with the results reported to Parliament or otherwise published. For awards above the relevant approval limit, the commission recommends stronger documentation of the legal reasons for using single- source procurement and greater scrutiny by the bodies responsible for reviewing and approving contracts. The report’s overall conclusion was that the system was falling short of the law’s objectives in key areas. “Taken together, these conclusions indicate that the public procurement system, as it operates, falls short of the objects of the Public Procurement Act in respect of competition, value for money, participation and transparency,” the report stated. The commission’s findings are based on quarterly contract award reports submitted by public bodies and assess contract awards in 2025 alongside trends from 2006 to 2025. The report calls for changes in both procurement practices and policy to strengthen competition and accountability in the spending of public funds.