Technocracy in Paradise: Assessing the Social Impact of Public Procurement in the Cayman Islands via Public Sector Interviews

ABSTRACT

In May 2018, the Cayman Islands (Cayman) set up a framework for public procurement, regulating public purchases with the private sector for the first time. One year on, this article critically explores the social impact of public procurement in Cayman’s public sector through interviews with the Governor of the Cayman Islands and other leading public-sector figures. It is argued that public procurement should improve the country’s financial probity, underpin future infrastructure and unlock local markets. However, cultural constraints limit the role that procurement can play. First, the system of laws is still developing and current practice has uncovered the need for a number of amendments. Second, a great deal of trust is being put in an untested public-private partnership model with no prior experience. Third, local preferences limiting international competition are being encouraged in contract awards. The article intertwines scholarly literature and empirical data from the interviews to identify Cayman’s impending social challenges and the extent to which they can be overcome using procurement.

KEYWORDS:

• Public procurement
• public-private partnerships
• Cayman Islands
• offshore
• competition
• British Overseas Territories

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the four interviewees, HE The Governor Martyn Roper OBE, Taraq Bashir, Stran Bodden and a fourth civil servant who did not wish to be named. I would also like to thank the ‘Unpacking the complexity of regulatory governance’ at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for inviting me to present this paper in July 2019, Dr Iyer and the two peer reviewers for their thorough feedback and Professor Baldacchino for his advice on a last minute question. Additional thanks go to Hadleigh Roberts, who proofread this article diligently.

Notes

1. The report surveyed three Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man) and six British Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar and Turks and Caicos Islands).