Friday 25^th August, Honiara - A total of twenty-nine SICCI members were part of the Solomon Islands Government’s Procurement Workshop held last week at Heritage Park Hotel.

The workshop was organized by Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) in partnership with the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT).

It was the 7th Procurement Workshop since the partnership with SICCI and MoFT was established.

The demand for the training was obvious last year as individuals and businesses show the appetite for better understanding of government processes which resulted in the facilitation of similar training this year.

The Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) recognizes the need to support businesses and companies to better understand Government’s procurement process as the private sector plays a vital role in goods and services delivery to the Government and the people of Solomon Islands.

There is a need for private sector have this training as it gives private sector the avenue to dialogue with those who are administrators of the government procurement process. This was first recognised in 2017 SI Procurement Working Group which SICCI is a part off.

The Government procurement process is an important relationship between government and businesses, which means more understanding and information sharing of each other’s needs and systems is vital.

The private sector through the procurement processes is always looking for solutions and ways to improve their products and service delivery to the public and see this training as an opportunity to better understand and apply the procurement process for both parties.

Assistant Accountant-General of MoFT, Mr. Leslie Penibanga stated that the private sector and the government’s relationship is one very important factor in the success story of any national economy.

He made mentioned that, 60% of Solomon Islands annual budget responsible for social-economic development goes through procurement as such it is important for private sector to understand the procurement requirement and processes.

In addition, to procure infrastructure, goods and services government needs to ensure that the private sector is equipped with the right knowledge to participate actively by providing what the government needs through the procurement system. 

The training was attended by a good number of SICCI members.