The Ministry of Public Infrastructure late Thursday night said it was forced to sole-source a Dutch consultancy company to conduct a feasibility study for the new Demerara River crossing after only one valid bid was submitted but exceeded the US$800,000 budget and concerns were raised about its technical level.
Reacting to a request by Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira for the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) to probe how The Netherlands-based LievenseCSO was awarded the (US$706,091) although that company was not among the 22 that had submitted expressions of interest, the Public Infrastructure Ministry said a decision was made to scrap the process in May following permission from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) and the Ministry of Finance. Funding for the feasibility study was provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Government acknowledged that 22 firms expressed their interest, 12 of them were shortlisted but only two submitted bids, one of which was valid.
“Nonetheless, MPI continued to seek suitable consultants due to the significance of the project and the need for its realisation. The Ministry actively sought greatly qualified consultants worldwide. It was during engagements with various companies, including those in the Netherlands, the Dutch Risk Reduction (DRR) Team, and in England, the company, LievenseCSO, was recommended,” the government ministry said.
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Minister of National Security Robert Montague says he is hurt when people “carelessly” attack his reputation and the “professionalism of the technocrats at the Ministry of National Security whose responsibility is to execute policy”.
The minister, who was speaking in Parliament today, was responding to the saga surrounding the pre-owned motor vehicles policy and procurement.
Last week news surfaced that a private company was awarded a $426.9-million contract to supply 200 pre-owned motor vehicles to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), but to date delivered only 30, causing embarrassment to the Government.
In addressing guideline breach concerns by the Opposition party, Montague maintained that the procurement has not breached any of the Government of Jamaica’s procurement guidelines.
In chronological order dated from September 2016 to December 1, 2017, he outlined the steps taken by him and his ministry to obtain vehicles for the JCF, in attempt to “provide transparency, clarity, accountability, and good governance to the nation”.
According to the security minister, on October 12, 2016 in the presence of representatives from the Office of the Contractor General and others, a tender box was opened following a September 2016 advertisement in the press for 80 cars and 120 double-cab pickups.
“Three tenders were found – Tryvisco Enterprise, O’Brien’s and Motor One Imports. One additional bid that was not placed in the box was rejected and returned unopened because it was not submitted on time according to the GOJ procurement process.
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Responding to tenders and project opportunities is part of the life of being a consultant or contractor of goods or services. Preparing submissions can take considerable time and effort to complete, and it can be disheartening if – at the very least – that effort is not rewarded with favourable consideration.
Although it goes without saying that this independent worker space has become increasingly competitive – even in the Caribbean – and so you cannot win all opportunities you bid on, a short survey of firms that regularly invite and review submissions has revealed that many submissions tend to get rejected early in the review process. Here, we outline the top three observations, which may be the reason why your submissions do not make the cut.
1. Instructions are not followed
Although most tender requests include phrases such as, “Please follow the instructions provided”, all too often, the instructions are not followed. As a result, and for example,
- Referral letters or letters of recommendatiion are not included
- Warranties and guarantees are not included
- Technical and financial proposals are not placed in separate envelopes
- Submissions are not labelled as instructed, e.g. copies of submissions have not been identified, and envelopes are not addressed as specified, or
- The required copies of the submissions are not provided.
If the tender is especially competitive and a number of bids have been received, the bid evaluators may be inclined to be more stringent in ensuring that the specified requirements have been met, and use them as a way of thinning down the submissions that will be subject to a more detailed review.
To a considerable degree, these issues are simple fixes through more careful preparation of the submission. In that regard, it may be useful to create a checklist of all the information and documents that must be supplied. Such an approach is especially useful when there are lots of instructions, and/or preparation of the submission is quite involved.
2. Submissions are poorly prepared
No matter how capable you (and your team) might be, if that capability is not clearly presented, the chances are slim that you will win the contract. The surveyed firms complained of poor quality proposals, noting that they tend to be poorly prepared, with poorly organized content.
A simple remedy that is frequently overlooked, is the inclusion of a table of contents, especially for lengthy submissions. Further, and noting that through your proposals you are presenting a first impression of yourself, your team and/or your business, do take the time to organize the material that is being presented, to make it easy to read and evaluate.
3. The core requirements are not satisfied
Depending on the project requirements, core and secondary requirements may be specified, either explicitly, or can be inferred from the scores or weights assigned to each criterion. Although those requirements might appear to be an impossible wish list, and thus a suggestion of the desired skills and capabilities, they should not be ignored.
When reviewing a tender to decide whether to respond, carefully consider the extent to which you and/or your team satisfy the project requirements, especially the key ones. Further, and should the process allow, that would also be the time to determine whether to partner with others, to build a stronger team, and consequently, a more winning submission.
(Photo: Ryan Lane / flickr)
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The Jovenel Moise – Jack Guy Lafontant administrations has signed $123 million in contracts to three companies outside of procedure in suspicious circumstances. Troubling was that there was no bidding in the process to award the contracts.
The private companies, Auto Plaza SA, HAYTRAC (Haytian Tractor & Equipment Co. SA) and Automeca (Auto and Mécanique SA) were given these contracts to purchase 500 construction vehicles though neither are manufacturers of such machinery.
The government entity which manages heavy equipment, the National Equipment Center (CNE), appears to not have been consulted or involved at all.
According to the Minister of the Economy and Finance, “it is [the Ministries of Public Works, Agriculture and Defense] that will use this equipment first but some will be in use at the level of the army because military professionals will be at the forefront of climate emergencies. Let us not forget that some of them are military engineering professionals who will help open up areas hit by natural disasters.”
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Rebuilding Camp St Prison
…despite 20 companies being prequalified in 2017 for reconstruction
…Govt sole source overseas firm
Since coming to office in 2015, the coalition Government has been engulfed in several controversies where it sole sourced goods and services. However, this trend seems to be heading into 2018; with more matters of this nature to follow.
Speaking during the 83rd sitting of the eleventh Parliament, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan indicated that a company had been sole sourced out of the United States to reconstruct a prison at the ruined Camp Street Prison. Only the concrete block stands, following a devastating fire set by escaping inmates in July 2017.
His comments were in response to a motion originally spearheaded by Opposition parliamentarian Juan Edghill. It was subsequently introduced by Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, as Edghill’s suspension continues from the House.
In his response to the National Assembly, Ramjattan stated that local companies were unwilling to get involved in “this type” of tendering. The Minister suggested that the reason for this was because they were ignorant of the process.
“We had to ensure, because of a certain person in NPTAB (National Procurement and Tender Administration Board) saying there must be some experienced contractors that know a thing or two about prisons. And if we have to single source, we have to single source.”
“And we went and single sourced a firm out of America, (which) has built over 300 prisons and has built the Guantanamo prison steel cell. And so they got the contract and they will come down. The important point here is to know we are doing something. Steel cells came out of money we allocated last year,” Ramjattan declared.
Untruths
But Ramjattan’s words that persons are unwilling to bid for a project of this nature are not supported by what actually occurred. Last year, Government cancelled a tender for the multimillion-dollar reconstruction of the Administrative Blocks for the Georgetown prison. The project was at the time being undertaken by the Public Infrastructure Ministry.
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