News

The Central Procurement Office (CPO) recently hosted a three-day workshop for government entities focusing on contract and procurement fraud prevention. The workshop, held at Hotel Indigo, was well-attended with over 200 public servants from government ministries and statutory authorities participating.

The sessions centred on identifying and understanding the vulnerabilities in procurement processes that fraudsters may target for illegal gain and also highlighted numerous measures that could be implemented or improved upon in the battle against fraud locally.

The workshop was led by Thomas Caulfield who boasts over 45 years of experience in anti-fraud investigation and policy making. Retired from the U.S. Marine Corps and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mr. Caulfield now shares his wealth of knowledge globally via training and consultation through Procurement Integrity Consulting Services, a company which he co-founded in 2015.

“Workshops such as these are essential in improving the skillset and collaboration of our public sector. We want to continue to empower those in procurement to ensure goods and services rendered to the Government are the best value for money to the country as a whole,” said Kenneth Jefferson, Financial Secretary

During the three-day training workshop, attendees participated in lectures, team-building activities and discussed real world examples of fraud to improve their understanding of how perpetrators of fraud think and operate.

Attendees also had an opportunity to engage with CPO staff and receive feedback on various queries relating to the procurement process and the Bonfire online procurement platform.

“This training enables both the CPO and the wider government to further reinforce the integrity of the procurement process. We are happy to see such a significant level of involvement from so many entities. Their participation helps to ensure a high level of consistency and efficiency in procurement across the entire public sector,” said Taraq Bashir, CPO Director.