The Tribune

A Customs Department consultant has pledged to identify no less than $15m in uncollected revenue when its eight-month effort to crack down on leakages begins today.

The Ministry of Finance, in a statement issued yesterday, confirmed that TTEK Inc has been hired on a $1.38m contract to assist the Customs Management Optimisation project that starts today.

During the eight-month consultancy, TTEK will work with senior management at the Customs Department and the Ministry of Finance to reduce revenue leakages and secure further reform and revenue enhancement within the tax collection agency.

“The government has been consistent in its efforts to reform and modernise the country’s revenue collection framework,” said K Peter Turnquest, deputy prime minister. “In my budget communication last year, I emphasised this work would be ongoing, as we are looking for every opportunity possible to improve the administration of revenue collection. This engagement is another step forward.

“It will ensure that we are using modern data analytic capabilities to the fullest extent, so as to highlight and address revenue collection anomalies, and to close any significant holes in our collection of Customs Duties. It will provide an operational road map to optimise the management structure at Customs and harness the wealth of expertise within the Department to meet the needs of a modern Bahamas.”

TTEK’s work involves an initial five-week assessment of the Customs Department to identify opportunities to address revenue leakage. It will do so by employing advanced data analytic tools to undertake a “deep-dive” into several years of Customs’ import data.

During the follow-up stage, five international Customs experts will work directly alongside the Customs team to introduce and embed the agreed reform elements which flow from the initial phases.

“What we are particularly keen on is the fact that we will have seasoned Customs experts from around the world working directly alongside our Customs management team for about seven months to help guide the implementation of the reform efforts, and provide ongoing support to enhance the use of investigative and data analytic techniques”, said Mr Turnquest.

“TTEK was selected as the winning bidder in part because its core expertise is Customs and border management. Its resume includes a diverse range of countries, including work in the Caribbean region with countries that share many of the same challenges and opportunities.

“Because the team on the ground will be comprised in large part of former Customs officers and managers, we feel that they will have the real life experience to add tremendous value to the government’s reform efforts.”

TTEK Inc specialises in delivering customs and border management consultancies, and technical solutions, around the world. It draws on more than 200 international experts who have worked in diverse Customs and Border management public entities.

TTEK, its executives, and its team of officials have provided services for jurisdictions such as Australia, the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bangladesh, Ghana, the Philippines, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.