Despite continuing contentions over its chairmanship, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has moved to seek nominees in order to reconstitute the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
During a virtual press conference on Thursday, Chairman of the PAC David Patterson said that at a meeting on Monday there was a unanimous agreement to move forward in seeking applications for suitable candidates for the PPC.
Patterson said the PAC agreed unanimously that letters will be written to the individual political parties in Parliament inviting them to submit nominees for the PPC directly to the PAC.
As a result, he said on Wednesday letters were dispatched the General Secretaries of the Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the Alliance for Change (AFC), the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), The New Movement (TNM) and A New and United Guyana (ANUG).
Commencing on Friday, Patterson said, public advertisements would be placed in the various forms of media and on the Parliament website inviting the public, private sector agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other institutions to submit names of suitable candidates to the PPC.
An ad in Friday’s Stabroek News invited the submission of the names of proposed nominees from stakeholders, political parties, civil organisations, as well as individuals with an interest in the establishment and proper working of the PPC.
It explained that it is the wish of the PAC that the composition of the Public Procurement Commission would reflect, as far as possible, the national and gender make-up of Guyana. “The nominees should first and foremost be competent to carry out the required duties. The usual considerations regarding the need to be of good repute, without criminal records and [with] no history of bankruptcy, apply,” it said.
According to Patterson, May 17th has been set as the date for return of all applications, after which they would be considered and recommendations will be forwarded to the National Assembly for ratification.
“The AFC is committed to ensuring that this important Constitutional Commission is fully established in the shortest possible time,” he said.
The PPC is legally charged to “monitor public procurement and the procedure therefor in order to ensure that the procurement of goods, services and execution of works are conducted in a fair, equitable, transparent competitive and cost effective manner according to law and such policy guidelines as may be determined by the National Assembly.”
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The government is seeking a consultant to draft a plan to help the Virgin Islands transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.
But such a plan was approved by the previous Cabinet shortly before the February 2019 general election, and VI officials aren’t saying why a new one is needed now.
In the aftermath of the 2017 hurricanes, the Colorado-based non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute — which in 2014 merged with Sir Richard Branson’s non-profit Carbon War Room — partnered with the government and the BVI Electricity Corporation to determine how to rebuild the territory’s electricity grid over time to be more resilient and environmentally friendly.
The result was the 68-page BVI Resilient National Energy Transition Strategy, which was funded by Sir Richard’s non-profit Virgin Unite and unnamed individual donors.
The plan, which was tabled in the House of Assembly in June 2019, draws upon comprehensive studies of the territory’s electricity system, forecasts the global energy market, and assesses the priorities of various stakeholders to illustrate how VI leaders could greatly increase renewable energy generation in the future.
Now, however, the Premier’s Office is seeking help drafting what appears to be a very similar strategy.
Expressions of interest
Last June, government issued a request for expressions of interest for a consultant to draft an “Energy Transition Plan” that would identify “strategies to achieve stated energy conservation and renewable energy goals … with an understanding of the regulatory context and conditions” in the territory.
Last month, the Cabinet followed up: During a March 17 meeting, members decided to invite four firms, each of which responded to the EOI request last June, to submit technical and financial proposals for the consulting services, according to a summary of the Cabinet meeting provided by the Cabinet Office.
But the stated goals of the new plan bear a close resemblance to what is included in the R-NETS strategy.
The 2020 EOI request, for instance, states that the new plan should “be structured in at least three phases to capture short-,medium- and long-term actions, recommendations and opportunities.”
Similar work was already undertaken by RMI.
In a section of its report titled “Action Plan,” the authors outline “specific immediate-, medium- and long-term investment projects that the BVI should pursue.”
2013 energy goals
Many of these projects were first proposed years before the R-NETS was drafted.In fact, the R-NETS was conceived as a means of enacting earlier goals laid out in the territory’s 2016 Energy Policy, which itself aims to hit a set of targets established in 2013.
These goals include generating 30 percent of the territory’s energy by renewable means by 2023; decreasing fossil fuel imports by 20 percent by 2021; reducing fossil-fuel inputs to electricity on Anegada by 80 percent by 2021; and ensuring that 50 percent of consumers use some sort of renewable energy technology or energy conservation measures.
Because progress toward these goals has been stymied repeatedly over the years, the territory continues to produce nearly all of its electricity by burning diesel fuel.
Last July, BVIEC officials promised change when they announced a $4.6 million contract for a solar field on Anegada designed to tick off the 2013 goal for reducing fossil fuel use on the sister island.
But construction has yet to start, and the chosen contractor, Maryland solar developer Rob Wallace Jr., has a history of allegations of fraud, broken contracts, refusal to pay his bills, and other misconduct sometimes associated with projects similar to the one he was chosen to build on Anegada.
Other similarities
The desired three-pronged structure of the planned Energy Transition Plan is not the only aspect of the new effort that echoes RMI’s renewable transition strategy.
Among other elements, the 2020 EOI request stated that the consultant should assess the “current regulatory framework for energy policy … and renewable energy in the BVI;” identify “energy conservation, renewable energy and energy storage opportunities;” calculate “the financial implications … and other impacts of developed strategies and recommendations;” and analyse “the potential greenhouse gas emission reductions that can be achieved through implementation of the plan.”
Many of these elements are present in the R-NETS strategy, which includes the results from detailed projections modeling the cost-effectiveness and emissions-reduction potential of six renewable development “scenarios.”
And after months of studying the territory’s electricity grid and capacity for renewable development, the strategy’s authors concluded that to make solar and other alternative technologies attractive on a large scale, the BVIEC must overhaul its renewable energy regulations.
“BVIEC should … examine innovative approaches to its current business model,” the R-NETS states.
As an example of one such innovation, the authors suggested that the BVIEC figure out a way to recoup “utility investments” in renewable energy infrastructure to then help residents install solar panels on the roofs of their homes.
The utility has been working toward that goal in recent months, though widespread use of solar technology on homes is not in effect.
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ALL government contract awards will be published online and in newspapers when a Public Procurement Bill being debated in the House of Assembly is passed and comes into force, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said yesterday.
The bill is among a compendium of finance bills that Dr Minnis said will boost transparency and accountability in government operations.
Public information about contracts “will state what the contract is for, who it was awarded to and the dollar value of the contract,” Dr Minnis said.
A report will also be published at the end of the fiscal year that will compile the information into a single document.
“This will help to address all the whispering, the rumours, and the political mischief that has gone on for decades in our country,” Dr Minnis added. “The citizens of The Bahamas will be able to see who is getting government contracts, for what purpose and in what amounts.”
Dr Minnis said under the bill, suppliers and contractors will be able to review the actions of procuring entities.
“In this vein, and for the first time, the bill provides for the establishment of a Procurement Review Tribunal, which will adjudicate disputes and complaints relating to government contracts, in accordance with the process established in the bill,” he said.
“Thus, if a bidder believes that he or she was wronged during the bid process, they now, for the first time, have a formal recourse. In other arrangements, the bill sets out the ground and procedure for the suspension and debarment of a bidder; provides for the proper keeping of records of the procurement and the management of the procurement contract; and provides for the Procurement Act to be reviewed every five years by a committee of both houses of Parliament appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the leader of the opposition.”
The government’s procurement process has long been criticised both locally and internationally.
In its 2020 investment climate statement on The Bahamas, the US State Department said this country lacks modern procurement legislation and that companies have complained that its tender process for public contracts is inconsistent.
“US firms have identified corruption as an obstacle to FDI and have reported perceived corruption in government procurement and in the FDI approvals process,” the report said.
The procurement bill maintains financial thresholds which will determine which entities are responsible for contract awards. Procurement units will be responsible for decisions involving contracts that do not exceed $250,000.
Internal tender committees will be responsible for contracts worth more than $50,000 but less than $250,000, subject to approval from the minister responsible for the procuring entity. The tender’s committee will make recommendations to the tenders board with respect to contracts valued above $250,000.
A newly established Public Procurement Board will award contracts valued above $250,000 but below $1m. The prime minister will appoint the chairperson of the board.
For contracts worth more than $1m, the board will be required to make a recommendation to Cabinet.
“Where the recommendation is not approved by Cabinet, the Cabinet may refer the matter back to the board for further advice or direct that a new procurement exercise is conducted,” Dr Minnis said.
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The Public Procurement Act’s implementation will take place two months later than other key financial reforms to give all government ministries and agencies time to adapt, it was revealed yesterday.
The Act, which will govern all public sector bidding processes and contract awards, will take legal effect on September 1, 2021, whereas the Public Finance Management Act, Public Debt Management Act and the Statistics Act will all come into force from July 1.
Marlon Johnson, the acting financial secretary, explained in a statement that the Ministry of Finance asked that the Public Procurement Act’s “appointed day” be pushed back a few months given the significant operational changes it requires within the government.
He explained: “The Procurement Act requires changes at all central government ministries and departments, as well as state-owned enterprises and authorities. It will require significant staff training, vendor education and awareness, and the establishment of new functions such as a tribunal to handle disputes,” he said.
Speaking to the importance of the legal reforms, Senator Kwasi Thompson, minister of state for finance, added: “These substantial new pieces of legislation are truly transformative and will revamp the way the public sector works regarding financial and data management.
“Each Act raises the standards of existing government processes to meet global best practices with a focus on transparency and accountability. The laws mandate that all information regarding budgets, public sector data, debt management plans, procurement opportunities and awarded government contracts be published within a specific timeframe.
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One day after he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and revealed that he has ceased all contracts with Courtney Benn Contracting Services, Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Public Works, Vladim Persaud has clarified that he has no intention to deliberately debar any contractor unless it is done through the right legal process.
Persaud told the PAC on Wednesday that the ministry took a position not to award contracts to contractors who have a large amount of outstanding work and large sums of outstanding money for the State.
He said this by no means should be seen as debarment, explaining that such restriction can only be done through the process laid out in the Public Procurement Act.
“When entities and contractors are bidding and they have been delinquent in the past, they have to indicate in their bidding document about past performance … those who are delinquent will most likely suffer and that has to be taken into consideration upon evaluation,” Persaud told the News Room via telephone on Thursday.
Persaud said under the law, all persons are allowed to bid for contracts unless debarred by the National Tender Board.
“I don’t want it to be taken out of context that the Permanent Secretary is deliberating trying to stop persons work. No, that’s not the intent,” he added.
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