Chamber of Commerce calls on Local Content Secretariat to probe contract bundling by oil companies

Contract bundling refers to the consolidation of several contracts into a single one, thereby allowing the winner of that one contract to provide all of the services or products needed under the various individual contracts.

Chamber of Commerce calls on Local Content Secretariat to probe contract bundling by oil companies

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) is calling on the Local Content Secretariat of the Ministry of Natural Resources to look into the issue of contract bundling by some of the major companies in the local oil sector.

Contract bundling refers to the consolidation of several contracts into a single one, thereby allowing the winner of that one contract to provide all of the services or products needed under the various individual contracts.

The Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday said it disapproves of the practice which is being used more by companies within the petroleum sector.

According to the Chamber, contracts are being solicited for expression of interest (EOI) and requests for information (RFI) under one umbrella by various players in the industry.

It noted that the practice affects micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) which are unable to compete in the space since the ‘bundling’ practice will set an artificial barrier to their participation.

In addition to that problem, the Chamber said it also believes that contract bundling works against the spirit and intent of Guyana’s Local Content Act (2021) and defeats the objectives of the Act as it relates to private sector development.

The issue has been one of concern for some companies that fall under the Chamber of Commerce that find themselves being locked out of major deals with the oil companies because of the bundling of contracts.

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