Following the award of contracts to impugned Trinidad and Tobago company Western Scientific, the Ministry of Public Health has put on hold the company’s bids for two other contracts.
The suspension of the bids followed questions raised about how Western Scientific could be used for sole-sourcing by the Public Health Ministry after damning conclusions were made about the company by a Board of Inquiry (BoI) that investigated procurement practices at the ministry.
“I am aware that two contracts were signed this week and Western Scientific was issued with those contracts, which signals a green light for them to supply…,” Procurement Officer of the Ministry of Public Health Phillip Bryan told Sunday Stabroek on Friday.
“…And there is a bid for two other contracts, and those contracts we will not be going ahead with because that is the instruction I have, but I can’t speak to what items exactly,” he added, before explaining that he did not have the information at hand.
In mid-August, government had announced that the company had secured a contract for the procurement of Sysmex reagents for the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) to the tune of US$154,154 (equivalent to $31,937,626). This immediately raised eyebrows as the BoI, established by the Ministry of the Presidency into allegations of mismanagement and malpractices in the procurement of pharmaceuticals at the Ministry of Public Health, had recommended in January that the company’s representative should be barred from future tenders.
The recommendation came on the heels of information that an employee of the Public Health Ministry had conspired with the Western Scientific representative to gain insider information.
Additionally, the BoI had said that the Trinidadian company was hostile to the BoI and failed to appear before it. The BoI also recommended that legal advice be sought over the reviewing of contracts awarded to the Western Scientific representative.
Western Scientific has also been blacklisted by the Inter-American Develop-ment Bank for five years over alleged fraudulent practices here.
The employee of the company cited by the IDB was the same one impugned by the BoI in January of this year. Given all of this, the Public Health Ministry would have to explain why it went ahead with Western Scientific and with single-sourcing when the items were likely available from multiple sources.
Western Scientific was also one of a number of companies that Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence had told Parlia-ment in June this year had delivered expired or nearly expired drugs to the Ministry.
Lawrence assumed control of the ministry in January and vowed to revamp procurement systems. She will now face questions as to how Western Scientific was used for single-sourcing despite its track record. Single-sourcing is supposed to be limited to situations where only one company is able to supply certain goods.
Sources also say that the ignoring of the BoI recommendation by the ministry will call into question the purpose of dozens of audits and Commissions of Inquiry convened by the APNU+AFC government. In a number of cases, recommendations have not been acted on and Western Scientific is a prime example.
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FOR five kilometres of road, contractor Arvin Kalloo and his company Kall Co are now at the centre of criticism about his company’s political connections.
It doesn’t matter that at $400 million, Kall Co’s bid was the lowest of the lot.
This works out to $80 million for one kilometre of highway.
What has sparked concern is how closely affiliated he was to the former People’s Partnership government, how his company received hundreds of millions in State contracts, how Kall Co was fired from the Maracas Beach upgrade and how its offices were recently raided by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Also, the familial connection between Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan and the Kalloo family has raised questions of possible nepotism.
Kalloo, the chairman of construction company Kall Co, says the criticism is unfair.
The Churchill-Roosevelt Highway extention to Manzanilla, the first phase of which is five kilometres long, is the first major infrastructure project of the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government after two years in office.
The construction of the highway extension to Point Fortin resumed earlier this year by contractor Junior Sammy, and the Government also announced its intention to construct the Curepe Interchange, a project initially embarked upon by the former People’s Partnership government but later shelved.
The project is to be funded through the Government’s Infrastructure Development Fund.
In the face of transparency questions of political ties, Kalloo told the Sunday Express many of them are unfair and ill-founded.
He noted out of 20-plus jobs for which the Kall Co tendered at the National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (NIDCO), he was awarded only two in the past two years.
“We won this job after a rigorous tender. We are committed to using local content throughout this project which, we think, will positively impact on the economy,” he told the Sunday Express yesterday.
Kalloo said the cost of the project to taxpayers was insured, as it is backed by bonds.
“The bonds are stringent. If, for any reason, we do not deliver, the Government can cash in. We just want to do the work,” he said.
“This job is just five kilometres. Kall Co has built more than 200 km of roads with a team of experienced engineers. We will deliver,” he added.
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Managing Director of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, Paul Abrahams, is admitting that it perhaps could’ve put to tender a temporary arrangement with a private security company.
Yesterday the JUTC outlined that it had an agreement with a company, Millennium Security Limited, to provide additional security services on a temporary pilot basis to protect spare parts which it said appeared to vanish from the company from time to time.
That arrangement ended on September 20.
The bus company made the disclosure in response to the Opposition who accused the JUTC of entering into a $50-million contract with MSL in breach of the government procurement guidelines.
The JUTC has denied that there’s a current contract with Millennium Security.
Mr. Abrahams says the JUTC did engage MSL for a six-month pilot project which ended last month. He said in hindsight it perhaps should’ve gone to tender.
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Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan is now being asked to ensure all tender reports are published, if state agency NIDCO has nothing to hide in the award of a $400 million contract to Kallco for the first phase of the Toco to Manzanilla Highway.
Chartered surveyor and managing director of Raymond and Pierre, Afra Raymond, said although Sinanan said he had recused himself from the discussion and decision by Cabinet for award of the contract, given the tradition of Cabinet secrecy, it is impossible to verify the that assertion.
He was responding to reports that Sinanan had declared a family relationship with the owner of Kallco and recused himself when Cabinet discussed the NIDCO recommendation to award the $400 million contract to the company. At the sod turning ceremony for the start of the project last week, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said Kallco was one of six companies that tendered for the project and had the lowest bid.
Raymond said in the interest of transparency and good governance, the Cabinet minute should be made public “to see who was in the room and present when the decision was made.” Since it was a commercial transaction involving millions of tax payers dollars,e the government should “remove the shroud of secrecy” and make the minute public, he said.
“If the state agency and the ministry really have nothing to hide, Minister Sinanan must now ensure that all the tender reports are published,” he said.
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…has a track record and I am giving the evidence of it – Jagdeo
The Public Infrastructure Ministry under the helm of Minister David Patterson, is accused of deliberately tampering with the procurement process in order to ensure contracts are handed out to favoured contractors.
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday met with members of the local press corps at his Church Street Office and provided documentation to this effect.
Jagdeo told reporters the Ministry has adopted a strategy where it advertises and invites persons to bid for projects but at the last minute, annul the process. The Ministry would then go on to negotiate a contract with a chosen ‘cronies’, according to Jagdeo.
As he sought to outline the Administration’s penchant for annulling the process and then opting to negotiate with favoured contractors, the Opposition Leader said this does not obtain only in the case of the well-publicised Feasibility Report for the new Demerara River bridge.
The Opposition Leader supplied media operatives with a paper trail for other contracts which clearly shows the Ministry annulling the process before going on to select favoured contractors.
One such project involved the multimillion-dollar reconstruction of the Administrative Blocks for the Georgetown prison – being undertaken by the Public Infrastructure Ministry and not the Public Security Ministry.
A total of 20 companies had been shortlisted from a prequalification process and were invited by the Permanent Secretary, Geoffrey Vaughn.
According to documentation seen by Guyana Times, the Permanent Secretary invited the 20 companies to conduct a site visit on July 27, 2017 and were to respond by the following day on whether or not they would be submitting a bid for the project.
The visit was the following day rescheduled by the Ministry’s Work Services Group Manager, for Procurement and Contracts, Philip Bryan.
The procurement manager, by way of email, a copy of which was seen by this publication, indicated that the site visit for the project was rescheduled for the following day, Friday, July 27, 2017.
On July 28, 2017, Permanent Secretary Vaughn wrote again to the bidders saying, “the Ministry regrets to inform you that a decision was taken by the executing agency to annul this bid.”
Vaughn, in giving reason, points to its clause which speaks to the “Employer’s right to accept any bid and to reject any or all bids.”
Another such project for which Jagdeo presented documentation in defence of his claims related to the pedestrian overpasses being constructed along the East Bank corridors.
In January of this year, bids were opened at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) at which point it was determined that 16 companies had submitted their bids.
In March, the Permanent Secretary wrote to the companies informing them that the contract had been awarded to B&J Civil Works.
Vaughn, in his missive to bidders, noted “accordingly, please be advised that your Bid Bon is released and accordingly, you are released from any performance under this bid.”
The Permanent Secretary three days later wrote to the company indicating that the process had been annulled.
According to Jagdeo, “they annul the bid process after they award the contract… another set of corruption in the same Ministry.”
The Opposition Leader was adamant too that the Ministry needs to come clean and explain what was currently happening with the feasibility study for the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge in Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
He recalled that Minister Patterson’s web of lies had entangled this project too since he had claimed that it was being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) but this turned out not to be the case.
Patterson had also erroneously claimed that the IDB was also funding the feasibility report for the new Demerara River bridge.
Jagdeo told reporters that ever since November last year the tenders had been opened for the feasibility study for the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge.
“How come from November 30, 2016, to now they have not awarded this contract for the Wismar Bridge,” the Opposition Leader questioned.
The former President was adamant, “we are getting a bunch of lies and corruption, unbelievable levels of corruption in this Ministry.”
He told media operatives the Administration has developed a modus operandi where it has a penchant for annulling tenders, “when the desired person doesn’t get the bid, win the bid, one of their cronies.”
Jagdeo recalled too that the same practice obtained by the David Patterson run Ministry for the multibillion-dollar Sherriff Street upgrade.
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