CHAIRMAN of the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) Board Tenders Committee (BTC) Jeffery Francis used his personal e-mail address to direct that the scope of works be altered to facilitate contractors bidding for work.
Francis is also a director on the Arnold Piggott-led EFCL board.
This apparent conflict of interest saw two contractors — Trinsulate 2 Caribbean Ltd and Watts Electrical Contractors Company Ltd — being awarded millions of dollars in contracts despite scoring low in an evaluation report and not being on EFCL’s approved contractors list, respectively.
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Evaluators of multi-million dollar bids are likely to be paid more than GYD$3,000 per bid, even as government moves to hire more such personnel, Chairman of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Berkley Wickham said.
“I have spoken to the Minister (of Finance) about it and we are actively dealing with that,” he said. Wickham could not immediately say how much the payment would be increased by, but he said that should not be seen as a means of discouraging corruption.
“People can be influenced regardless of what they pay…The monies that are being paid, they are not paid to ascertain people’s honesty. It is just to defray any expenses they may have because the evaluators presently come from within the public sector and they are not being paid,” he said.
The NPTAB said government is relying on persons with integrity and are willing to do a good job that can withstand scrutiny. Wickham said background checks would be conducted on the potential evaluators.
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The United States Embassy has been made aware of an ongoing tender scam in which the Embassy’s name and logo have been fraudulently used to target businesses for the provision of solar generators and equipment. This is according to information disseminated by the Embassy by way of a press statement yesterday.
According to the statement, “If your business receives a tender request from a “Ronnel Fisher, Tender Section of the Embassy of the United States” from the following email addresses:
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The first ever meeting of the Heads of Procurement of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) took place on June 20-21 in Barbados with the dark storm clouds of Tropical Storm Bret as the backdrop. Fittingly, the discussion focused on how to create a common market for public procurement and to use procurement as a tool to better prepare for and respond to the natural disasters endemic to the region.
The meeting, which the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) jointly organized at CDB’s headquarters, brought together Chief Procurement Officers from eight Caribbean island nations. Representatives from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the OECS Commission and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy Program also participated.
“The workshop served as a constructive platform for straightforward discussion on procurement and its attendant issues. The OECS countries were afforded a worthy opportunity to share experiences, consolidate a common understanding and set a path to further advance practical and realistic measures to modernize our respective procurement systems,” said Mr. Sean Cenac, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of his country’s Tenders Board.
In 2010, the seven full member states of the OECS signed the Protocol to the Revised Treaty of Basseterre – the OECS’s founding agreement. This protocol established an Economic Union between OECS countries, including a single currency and a Central Bank. However, with regards to public procurement, significant barriers to inter-island trade and cooperation remain.
During the meeting, the Heads of Procurement concluded that their national procurement systems were developed without coordination with the other OECS countries. This means that a patchwork quilt of disparate laws, regulations and guidelines now exists, creating a confusing and uncoordinated procurement system.
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The University Council of Jamaica has given approval for the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service (MoFPS) and the International Procurement Institute (INPRI), Jamaica Limited to launch Jamaica’s first accredited training and certification series in Public Procurement.
The Public Procurement Training and Certification Series; is a training programme designed by INPRI Jamaica Limited to provide current and practical coverage of internationally recognized best practices, key concepts, principles and applications in the field of Public Sector Procurement (PSP).
The Series is a single undertaking consisting of four levels that will equip participants with the information necessary to enhance their knowledge from the basic essentials of good procurement to international cutting-edge value enhancement strategies. At the close of the series, participants will have completed a total of 96 hours of instruction and performed 4 hours of examinations.
Financial Secretary (Assigned) Everton McFarlane notes that, as part of the broader Government of Jamaica’s (GoJ) modernization programme, the stakeholders in the field of public procurement, are considered to be important links in the chain as GOJ seeks to create greater efficiency in the delivery of service. In this regard, the Government has embarked on a comprehensive re-structuring and institutional strengthening exercise geared towards making Procurement officers more aware of international best practices in their field. It is anticipated that the outcome will result in more effectively managed public funds and satisfied customers” he said.
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