HEAD of National Works Agency (NWA), EG Hunter says that with the cut in the budget for the Southern Coastal Highway, the Government is now deep in discussions with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) to see how best the project can be restructured with minimum fallout.
The budget of $12.91 billion originally set aside for the highway has been slashed by half in the revised national budget, to help make room for billions in COVID-19 expenditure.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), which examined the estimates, Hunter said work would forge ahead on the designs, notwithstanding the delay in some elements of actual construction which were supposed to start in the second quarter of the fiscal year. The NWA is administering the Yallahs to Harbour View leg of the highway, while the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) is in charge of the second phase, from May Pen in Clarendon to Williamsfield in Manchester
“The majority of the cost will be in the actual construction, so we are still trying to finalise with the contractor how we reorder the activities. The construction will pick up at a later date. Initially what we had done was to identify parts of the construction activity that can proceed at a certain stage, while we proceed with the design of the roadway itself.
“One of the options that we now have is to just continue with the total design, and to cherry-pick the elements of the work that can now go to construction. This requires a lot of discussion with the contractor. Our overall desire is to maintain as much momentum as possible, but we are aware of the fiscal constraints and we are depending on the cooperation and support of the contractor to try and reorder the activities as best as we can,” he explained.
The NWA chief executive officer pointed out that the project was not in danger of stalling as CHEC was paid an advance of US$6 million last year, which gives the Government some breathing room to honour the payment schedule.
“That advanced payment to the contractor is available to the project…the contract gives the Government 72 days to pay for any work that has been done so it is still possible to maintain a decent modicum of activity, and the obligation is managed as you go down the road. So, it is not as simple as saying the budget is cut by 50 per cent therefore you do 50 per cent work.
“It’s a question of how the activities are staged to fit within what the contract provides for. The truth is that we oft-times make payment on a schedule more pleasing to the contractor, but we still have the provisions of the contract to rely on in case we have fiscal challenges,” he outlined.
Meanwhile, managing director of NROCC, Ivan Anderson explained that work has started on approximately 11 kilometres out of 28 kilometres of roadway on the second phase of the highway.
“Right now we have not proposed any cuts in the contractor’s pace of work, so we continue with the original pace of work while we discuss with the contractor what we can do in relation to the cuts in the budget,” he explained, noting that with the cut in the overall budget for the project, spending on the second leg has been reduced from $4.8 billion to $2.4 billion.
… more
Image: Free-Photos (Pixabay)
Read more
A billion-dollar catering contract approved by Cabinet is now the subject of an official complaint before the Integrity Commission.
Sunday Gleaner investigations have revealed that Elegant Weddings Event Planning & Catering Limited has reported the matter to the Greg Christie-led anti-corruption watchdog amid allegations that a key government official exerted undue influence in the contract-award process.
However, when contacted yesterday, the official in question, whom The Sunday Gleaner has decided not to identify at this time, said he had no comment to make at this stage.
In the meantime, the new food service provider, Patsy Lyn Limited, is expected to take over from the St Andrew-based Elegant, whose agreement with the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) ends next month. SERHA is the government authority that runs the public health facilities in St Catherine, Kingston, St Andrew and St Thomas.
Neville Lyn, who is listed as a company director for Patsy, confirmed yesterday that his Kingston-based entity was this year awarded the contract, which is yet to be signed.
‘TOUCHY SITUATION’
“It’s a very touchy, touchy situation,” he added, while declining to explain further over the phone.
The Sunday Gleaner has obtained several documents, including a June 2, 2020 letter from Dwayne Bailey, SERHA’s senior director for public procurement, who advised the current providers that the contract would not be extended after July 2.
Two days later, Bailey wrote again to Elegant, but this time indicating that “we have concluded our tender process for dietary services” at the Kingston Public and Victoria Jubilee hospitals, and that the contract would not be extended beyond July 4, 2020.
The two letters did not include any reasons for the non-extension, and although it’s not clear when the original contract was signed, documents suggest the multimillion-dollar arrangement was extended in January 2018.
When The Sunday Gleaner contacted the owner of Elegant, she declined to speak on the matter and pleaded that her name not be included in the article out of fear for her life.
The Sunday Gleaner, however, has found that Elegant’s complaint was made to the Integrity Commission in a letter dated June 8.
It alleged that the $1.2-billion contract was not put through a competitive bidding process, that a single-source procurement method, in which the supplier is selected by the entity needing the services, was used, and that a senior government official was influential in the contract-award process.
Christie, the Integrity Commission’s executive director, to whom the letter was addressed, responded on June 15, acknowledging the complaint, and said that it had been referred to the information and complaints division for review.
Contacted Friday, Christie declined to comment, pointing to the secrecy law which blocks the commission from disclosing to taxpayers any details about investigations before a report is tabled before Parliament.
Government procurement rules dictate that contracts valued in excess of $150 million be open to local or international bidding, advertising in domestic and global media, and require approval from the head of the procuring entity before endorsement by the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and final approval from Cabinet.
Section 25 of the public procurement law outlines that an entity may use single-source procurement under five scenarios, three of which include where the goods, works or services are available from a particular supplier, registered or not; the situation is an emergency; or in the interest of national security.
The procuring entity must also invite a proposal or price quotation from the supplier and engage in negotiations unless it is not feasible.
The Sunday Gleaner has been unable to ascertain a full justification for the approach taken by SERHA, although a source indicated that over the years, several tenders received were just “unsuitable” and there was an urgency to end the existing arrangement.
Repeated efforts to contact the chairman of SERHA, attorney-at-law Wentworth Charles, were unsuccessful.
NO BREACH OF PROCEDURES
Meanwhile, Bailey, SERHA’s head of procurement, has insisted that the procurement process was above board.
“There was no breach of any of the procedures in engaging Patsy Lyn,” he said, noting that SERHA has not received any communication from the Integrity Commission suggesting a probe is under way.
Citing legal restrictions on disclosing reasons for using single-sourcing, Bailey explained that SERHA received permission from the PPC to use that method of contracting because previous public tenders were unsuccessful.
… more
Image: HonestReporting (flickr)
Read more
EXPENDITURE of $10.6 million by the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) for computer equipment which the auditor general and her team have not been able to find at the campus was an issue of contention at yesterday’s meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which questioned the hiring of a logistics company to supply the devices.
The committee has indicated that it wants the CMU’s information technology department to appear and answer questions about the university’s deal with logistics outfit, Itz Shipd 24/7, which is not registered with the National Contracts Commission for the provision of computer services, and whose capability to do so was not determined.
According to the finding of the auditor general’s special report on the CMU, for the period 2016-17 to 2018-19, there was no proper recording of the inventory for the multimillion-dollar payout to the Corporate Area-based logistics company.
Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis told the PAC yesterday that her auditors had not been able to reconcile machines at the campus with the invoices presented. “We could not relate the machines that we saw assigned to those which we had an interest in, so we cannot attest for the devices. CMU has indicated that the machines are there, and they may very well be there, but we are not in a position to confirm because the requisite information that would allow us to do so is not available, and what is available is conflicting information,” she stated.
The purchase included 15 laptops and two tablets, among other computer equipment. According to the report, some of the expenditures included four MacBook Pro devices valued at over half a million dollars each.
Furthermore, the report concluded that despite having access to the enterprise version of a software suite, CMU purchased three individual licences from Itz Ship 24-7 Limited at a cost of $256,900 per annum. The audit team said its own checks revealed that the software provider sold the licences at an approximate cost of US$60 each (or total of $25,000), reflecting a difference of $231,900.
Committee member and MP for Manchester Central Peter Bunting questioned the arrangement. “It’s highly unusual for a company providing services for shipping, delivery and clearance also to be selling software licences but they sold the licences at 10 times the regular cost, so CMU paid $256,900 per annum to this company for a software suite which they already had the enterprise version of. It really is quite curious as normally these licences, you can buy them online directly from the vendor, but instead they go to a shipping and logistics services company which is not normally in the business of selling software licences,” he argued.
… more
Image: Wikipedia Commons
Read more
Prime Minister Andrew Holness wants forward planning for procurement in place to lessen the time spent engaging the gears of bureaucracy.
Holness was speaking on Thursday at the commissioning of a $33-million, 110-ft-long bridge spanning the Wag Water River and which links Airy Castle, Bowden Hill, and Stony Hill in the St Andrew West Rural constituency represented by Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn.
The prime minister bemoaned that it took a year for the bridge to be installed despite his understanding that the parts were already in the island at the National Works Agency.
He said that the construction of the bridge was not particularly complex and that the completion of the work should not have been bogged down by technicalities.
“What we need to start doing as a society is to start planning for procurement. The truth is that in any other country, we would not be waiting until the bridge collapses because I gather this bridge is almost 70 years old,” Holness said.
“… What really should have happened is that before the bridge collapsed, our economy should be revving so much that we have the revenue to say, ‘Take down this bridge, expand it, and put a bigger bridge with walk-foot capacity on it’.”
Jamaica’s procurement of goods and services is often stifled by red tape and cultural lethargy, but the reams of paperwork and layers of oversight are often geared at curbing and catching graft.
The island was ranked in the 2019 Corruption Perception Index as the fourth most corrupt state among Caribbean countries, behind Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti.
With a score of 43, Jamaica’s ranking dipped sharply from 70 to 74 out of 180 countries.
But after a year of much displeasure, Bowden Hill residents can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the bridge is once again open to them.
Kingston-based Chin’s Construction won the tender to construct the bridge.
Latoya Liscombe, whose house is a few metres away from the bridge, could not hide her joy as she strolled across moments before the commissioning.
“This is the best thing to happen here in a while. Can you imagine how important it is to get this bridge back up and running?” she said.
“I used to walk several miles around on the alternative route, and sometimes I would go further up and cross the river, but when it comes down, I am stranded. So yes, I am happy,” Liscombe said.
RENEWED INTEREST
The principal of Bowden Hill Primary and Infant School, Nathalee Brown-Nicely, was also elated.
… more
Image: fernando zhiminaicela (Pixabay)
Read more
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Government tabled landmark legislation last week that will substantially change how contracts are awarded throughout the entire public service.
The Public Procurement Bill, 2020, will be debated in the House of Assembly following the adoption of the FY2020/21 Annual Budget.
The new rules will govern how government contracts for goods and services are issued by all public entities. The Bill creates a Public Procurement Department that will fall under the Ministry of Finance and establishes a new structure for the Tenders Board. Following the Budget Debate, the Ministry of Finance will engage in public education around the new Bill.
Some of the fundamental changes include criminal penalties for unethical conduct by public officials involved in the tender exercise, a requirement for all bids and tenders to be published through the Government’s electronic tender platform, and the implementation of an appeal process for bidders.
“We are proud to advance our government reform agenda with another landmark piece of legislation that will once again, fundamentally improve the standard of government transparency and accountability,” said K. Peter Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
“Historically, there has been little public confidence in the procurement process for government goods and services.”
This new legislation is a massive step forward to bringing more credibility to the procurement process.
… more
Image: Alpha Stock Images, The Blue Diamond Gallery
Read more
