Tonight, the administrative fallout from the SmartStream exposure has officially hit the desk of every Chief Executive Officer and Accounting Officer in Belmopan.
With the sub-ten-thousand-dollar invoice splitting pipeline exposed to the public, ministries looking to bypass open competitive bidding have been leaning on another classic administrative trick: abusing 'Selective' and 'Limited' tendering under the convenient cover of 'urgency.'
Well, Contractor General Maria Arthurs is officially slamming that backdoor shut.
In a stern memorandum issued on July 23rd-Circular Number 3 of 2026-the Contractor General formally puts the entire public service on notice: open tendering is the law, and claiming a contract is 'urgent' will no longer be accepted as a blanket excuse to handpick preferred vendors.
The Contractor General notes that her office has observed a sharp increase in ministries bypassing open, public bidding. In response, the memorandum underscored strict new parameters designed to strip away the standard administrative excuses.
The Contractor General warns that any submission failing to meet these strict legal standards will be flatly rejected and returned to the ministry. Coming just sixteen days after Prime Minister John Briceño convened a special Cabinet summit on procurement compliance, this directive confirms what the SmartStream leaks made undeniable: the loopholes used to circumvent open competition were being systematically exploited.
