Integrity Commission flags heavy reliance on single-source and emergency deals

Jamaica’s Integrity Commission (IC) reports that seven of every 10 contracts signed by public bodies in the past financial year were let through single-source or emergency procurement, covering more than 34,000 awards worth about $370 billion in total.

The IC leads the country’s anti-corruption work and oversees how state-owned bodies award contracts.

Under single-source procurement, an entity may seek an offer from one named supplier. Emergency procurement lets agencies move quickly to buy goods, works, or services when unexpected events arise.

Every one of the 198 public bodies must tell the IC about contracts of $500,000 or above. The commission said reporting compliance reached 100 per cent for the 2025-2026 financial year.

At an uncommon Tuesday news briefing, Kevon Stephenson, the IC’s director of investigations, said the commission’s records list 34,398 contracts valued at $370.68 billion for that year.

Spending on goods made up 52 per cent of the total, he said, with services at 26 per cent and works at 22 per cent.

Stephenson added that the closing quarter of 2025-2026 alone carried 36 per cent of full-year outlays, and warned that “the procurement methods underlying these figures warrant particular attention”.

“Single-source and emergency contracting combined accounted for 70.5 per cent of all contracts awarded during the period, representing more than seven in every 10,” he told reporters.

Restrictive bidding, he said, covered 25 per cent of contracts by count yet 31 per cent of their combined value.

“The largest value share of any method,” he said.

“Accordingly, our monitoring of these methods remains a priority.”

Public bodies also declared $3.4 billion in cost overruns, variations, and other price changes on contracts signed in the last financial year, Stephenson said.

The IC records such items only when an overrun, variation, or price adjustment reaches at least $500,000 on a contract.

Entities told the commission they had awarded contracts worth roughly $393 billion in the financial year.

When asked for fuller contract particulars, public bodies responded at a 91 per cent rate — down from the complete response seen the year before.

The breakdown given by Stephenson was $713 million in cost overruns, $1.78 billion in variations, and $950 million in other price adjustments.

“Measured against the $393 billion in contracts reported, the $3.4 billion in overruns, variations and price adjustments represent approximately 0.9 per cent of that contract value,” he said, calling the share “modest” beside international benchmarks.