The Auditor-General’s recent report on the tender for over 2,000 school bus routes provides valuable insights on handling public procurement by all public sector agencies, including SOEs and Crown entities. Despite a procurement approach by the Ministry of Education that is much better than many other agencies, the Auditor-General pointed to a number of lapses. While the lapses were said not to be major causes for concern, there are recommendations which are valuable for all agencies.

We highlight the generally excellent pre-RFP steps by the Ministry, contrary to the under-baked pre-RFP action by some other agencies. We also question whether a conclusion by the Auditor-General (which permitted preference for the incumbent providers ahead of others) is the optimal approach. The pro-incumbent provision highlights one of the most challenging areas in procurement: encouraging competitive proposals from non-incumbent providers.