Govt Tables Procurement Bill To Strengthen Fiscal Management, Curb Leakages - PM Anwar
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- The government has proposed the Government Procurement Bill 2025 as a continuation of the Public Finance and Fiscal Responsibility Act 2023 (FRA), which complements the Financial Procedure Act 1957, to further strengthen fiscal management.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that the bill aims to address leakages and optimise national resources to continue driving economic reforms and improving the quality of life for the people.
He stressed that rushed direct negotiations without due diligence waste public funds and only benefit a small group of wealthy elites, while large-scale projects such as flood mitigation, schools, roads and healthcare require significant spending.
“From the first year, I halted the practice of direct negotiations and shifted to an open tender procurement system for regular development projects.
“In the past, it was not unusual for projects like roads, schools and hospitals to be awarded through direct negotiations,” he said when tabling the bill for its second reading in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said under the MADANI Economy: Empowering the People framework, which serves as a major transition strategy, the government’s goal is to “raise the ceiling and the floor” and to restructure the economy towards higher value.
This will ultimately deliver spillover benefits to improve the people’s standard of living, said the prime minister.
“The MADANI government created a historic milestone by boldly enacting the FRA, which introduced strict benchmarks for fiscal management and restored the finance minister’s accountability to Parliament for oversight.
“The government has already advanced several key frameworks, including the MADANI Economy and the 13th Malaysia Plan, designed not only to strengthen the economy but also to untangle long-standing structural issues that have plagued the nation,” he added.
In drafting the Procurement Bill, Anwar said the government conducted thorough reviews and engaged stakeholders across federal and state governments, local authorities, contractors’ associations, professional bodies, non-governmental organisations and academics.
“This was to present the government’s intent and obtain feedback on the Government Procurement Bill,” he said.
-- BERNAMA