Guam Tax Stamp Procurement Fails

The procurement of cigarette tax stamps for the US island territory of Guam has gone back to square one, as only one bid was received for supplying the stamps, and that bid was rejected for not meeting all the requirements, advised Marie Lizama, Deputy Director at the Department of Revenue and Taxation (DRT).

‘If there was only one bid it begs the question “is there a reason for that?” And if the bidder did not meet the requirements and did not protest the rejection, then it’s kind of something that we need to take another look at,’ Lizama said.

This is not good news for the DRT, especially given that earlier in the year it was sued by a wholesale company in Guam for not following the law and implementing tax stamps on cigarettes.

Guam’s tax stamp bill passed into law in late 2017 but the years went by with no implementation of the stamps. This led to another bill being introduced that directed DRT to hire a private company for the enforcement of tobacco taxes, including administration of the cigarette tax stamp programme.

However, this measure, too, has now been put on hold until such time as the tax stamps are finally procured – if this ever happens.