T

he city administration has stepped up procurement in the wake of Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama'€™s forceful public instruction to accelerate spending last week.

In a meeting last week with civil servants, Ahok complained about the city'€™s low spending and threatened that heads would roll if spending did not pick up by the end of September. Officials from the Jakarta Police, the Jakarta High Court and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) also attended the meeting.

According to data from the Jakarta Goods and Services Procurement Agency (BPPBJ), the city had completed 1,509 bidding packages as of Monday.

'€œAs of Aug. 31, we have completed 1,509 bidding packages worth about Rp 3.38 trillion [US$238.2 million],'€ BPPBJ head Blessmiyanda, also known as Bless, told reporters at his office at City Hall on Thursday.

The figure is a significant increase from Aug. 18, by which point the city had completed about 1,200 bidding packages. In May, the agency had managed only four packages.

'€œWhile the numbers remain low, the pace of procurements has picked up in the last few days,'€ Bless said, adding that his agency was currently processing 1,058 bidding procurement packages worth roughly Rp 3.5 trillion.

The city administration aims to bid for 4,115 procurement packages worth a total Rp 11.5 trillion.

Of the 4,115 packages, 1,260 packages will be processed at the City Hall Goods and Services Procurement Unit (UPPBJ) and 488 at the Central Jakarta, 481 at the North Jakarta, 555 at the West Jakarta, 562 at the South Jakarta, 682 at the East Jakarta and 87 at the Thousand Islands UPPBJs.

'€œWe are hoping to complete at least 80 to 90 percent of the targeted procurement bids. Not all will be processed because some bids may fail, and others may be canceled,'€ Bless said.

He acknowledged that the current procurement system was complex, requiring at least a month to determine a winner.

Working units, such as subagencies, agencies and boards, are responsible for drafting procurement proposals. The proposals are then submitted to the BPPBJ, which determines if the documents need to be rewritten or amended.

Bless went on that the agencies fastest at drafting procurement documents were the Housing and Government Building Agency, Parks and Cemetery Agency and Bina Marga (Roads) Agency.

'€œOur current system takes at least a month to complete. We also have far from the ideal number of civil servants. As such, we are looking to modernize our system so we can work more effectively with the available resources,'€ Bless said. The BPPBJ currently only has 153 civil servants '€” ideally it would have 330.

During a meeting between the city administration and councilors to discuss the 2016 budget on Thursday, councilors suggested an increase in the allowances of BPPBJ civil servants.

Council deputy speaker Muhammad Taufik of the Gerindra Party said that a rise would deter civil servants from engaging in corrupt practices with private companies involved in procurement contracts.

'€œWe advise the city administration to increase allowances for BPBBJ civil servants. Their task is more difficult and their workload is heavier than those in other working units,'€ Taufik said during the meeting.

Separately, Ahok said that he was confident his subordinates would complete most of the targeted procurements.

'€œWe should be able to catch up, and complete most, if not all, of the packages,'€ Ahok told reporters at City Hall.