GoB to revamp public purchasing system

PM promises greater transparency & accountability with creation of Central Procurement Unit

BELMOPAN, Thurs. July 9, 2026

   Prime Minister John Briceño has confirmed that the Government of Belize (GoB) intends to increase the current $10,000 procurement threshold as part of a broader overhaul of the country’s public purchasing system, while insisting that new transparency measures will prevent the type of concerns raised in recent weeks over government payments.

   The proposed change comes amid heightened public scrutiny following leaked SmartStream payment records showing hundreds of payments below $10,000 that were allegedly made to companies linked to relatives of former Minister of Home Affairs and National Defence, Oscar Mira. Similar allegations have also emerged involving former Minister Florencio Marin, Jr. Both ministers are currently on three months’ leave while an audit of the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security is conducted. Under the existing system, payments below $10,000 are subject to fewer procurement requirements, prompting criticism that the threshold has been exploited to avoid greater financial oversight.

   Calls to review the procurement limit gained momentum during the People’s United Party’s National Party Council last weekend, where former Miss Universe Belize, Bella Zabaneh argued that the threshold no longer reflects the realities of government spending, and should be updated.

   Speaking this week, Briceño acknowledged that the current limit is outdated, but said any increase would be accompanied by sweeping reforms under the Government’s planned Central Procurement Unit. “Twenty years ago, the budget was less than one billion dollars; right now, we’re at one point eight billion dollars,” the Prime Minister said. “The Government is buying four, five hundred million dollars in services and goods every year, so it becomes almost impossible below ten thousand,” he added.

   Briceño explained that the centralized procurement system will require every ministry to submit records of its purchases through a single digital platform, making procurement information publicly accessible, and allowing transactions to be monitored in real time.

   “Unlike now, everything will have to go through one portal, or one window. Every ministry has to put what they’re doing in there, so everyone will see,” he said. “They will have to report it through the portal to the public.”

   The Prime Minister argued that the proposed system would eliminate the possibility of companies receiving numerous payments below the procurement threshold without attracting public attention. “What you see, where one company has hundreds of payments under ten thousand, it would be impossible for it to happen; because, in this case, all of that would have to be reported, and people immediately would have seen that something was not correct,” Briceño said.

   The Government has not yet announced what the new procurement threshold will be, or when the revised system will take effect. However, officials have indicated that the changes will form part of the rollout of the Central Procurement Unit, which is intended to strengthen transparency and accountability in government purchasing, while streamlining procurement across ministries.