Articles | Project Calls

Governor’s Office Funds Three Youth Empowerment Projects

December 28, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

British Virgin Islands

The Governor’s Office, through UK Funding, has provided three grants totaling $30,000 to deliver youth empowerment projects in the BVI to 13 to 21 year olds.

The Governor’s Office invited bids earlier this year and received 12 excellent applications from established non-profit organizations in the Territory which were assessed by a committee from the Governor’s Office and BVI Government. The projects were required to contribute to the delivery of the BVI Sustainable Development Plan goal: Islanders are empowered for a Sustainable Future in an Inclusive Vibrant Society, Living Fulfilling Lives.

The grants have been awarded to:

Mentoring Anointed Leaders Everywhere (MALE) – who will run a series of intensive mental health workshops for young men.
Road Town Boys and Girls Brigade – who will revitalise their programs, with funding used to replace parade flags, drilling equipment, marching drums, uniforms and renew their websites and online store, amongst other things.
H. Lavity Stoutt Community College- who will deliver media production development workshops to empower BVI youth.

Governor John Rankin CMG met with the successful applicants on 7^th December to offer his congratulations. The Governor said “I am delighted to announce today funding for three youth empowerment projects. I know these projects will benefit the lives of young people in the BVI. I am grateful for the very high calibre of applications we received and thank everyone involved.”

Additional detail on the projects

Mentoring Anointed Leaders Everywhere (MALE) who will run a series of intensive mental health workshops for young men. The workshops will aim to deliver outcomes on the following areas:

Better awareness and relationship with self; positive approach to mental health – which will result in a better relationship with oneself, also better relationship with others.
Resolution conflict skills – better processing skills to navigate through difficult situations
Decision making and goal setting skills – positive approach to mental health result in higher aspirations for careers and fulfilling of dreams.
Mindfulness and Meditation – to help manage stress, anxiety, and emotions.
Expressive therapy – getting in touch with oneself and answering self-awareness questions through, art, music, and drama.
Outdoor activities, games, sports, arts and crafts: Positive approach to mental health result in better assessment and ability to make healthy decisions and choices by getting in touch with nature, hiking with nature and culture walks.
Group support and team building – Learning to respect and support others and create a non-judgemental, supportive environment and learning the value of community. The effects of this can trickle and ripple throughout homes, communities, and territories.
Coping Skills – Introducing practical skills such as time management, journaling, creative writing, and resolution conflict that are vital to releasing daily stress.
Self-care – How to detox, reflection and relaxation techniques, breathing exercises. Assist them in creating healthy boundaries and the importance of taking care of oneself.

H. Lavity Stoutt Community College will deliver film development workshops. This project will introduce a workshop series in media production to empower BVI youth. The workshop series will focus on developing skills in characterization, media production, and musical expression through practical exercises and research. Workshop participants will learn to identify and utilize platforms for creativity, experiment with diverse performance art forms, foster self-awareness, and promote collaborative teamwork. This initiative aims to cultivate practical skills, fostering participation in global and regional creative industries by opening doors to platforms like Netflix, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube; as well as opportunities to participate in film festivals.

Road Town Boys and Girls Brigade will receive funds to revitalise their programs, including replacement parade flags and drilling equipment; replacement marching drums; official parade uniforms; non-official uniforms for weekly company meetings and community service activities; special programs uniforms; badges and awards to award members for completing badge work; revitalization of RTGB (RTBB) websites and online store; procurement of materials; and tools to carry out programming such camping, traveling, transportation, first-aid certification and IT. The Brigades are international, interdenominational, uniformed, afterschool, outreach organisations that empower youth and make a difference.

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General aviation terminal upgrade moves ahead

December 28, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Cayman Island

Government’s plans to upgrade the general aviation facility at the Owen Roberts International airport has taken another step forward with the opening of tender bids for design consultancy services for the project.

The request for proposals, which was issued on the government procurement Bonfire portal, is seeking firms to design the general aviation parking apron, heliport and marine dock project.

The plans consist of the construction of an approximate 70,000 square-metre flexible and non-flexible aircraft parking apron, an approximate 10,500 square-metre heliport apron and a small marine dock with an associated seawall.

“The GA apron will consist of a connection to the existing taxiways G and H. The design scope will include all access roads, underground utilities and necessary external works required as outlined in the conceptual design included in the CIAA 2041 Master Plan. The site is located at the Owen Roberts International Airport in Grand Cayman and is adjacent to the existing easterly apron and the North Sound,” the RFP stated.

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Cries get louder for Troy Bridge repair

December 28, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Jamaica

TROY, Trelawny — With the danger of their commute increasing daily due to heavy and persistent rain, residents of Cowick Park in north-west Manchester and Troy in south Trelawny are questioning the Government’s prioritisation timeline to replace a collapsed bridge here.

Since the Troy Bridge collapsed in August 2021, schoolchildren and other residents have been using makeshift methods, including a fallen tree and a zip line comprising a rope and bucket to cross the river. The risky makeshift footbridge connects residents in the neighbouring communities of Cowick Park in north-west Manchester to Troy in south Trelawny. Since the bridge collapsed, residents have had to use a 15-mile alternative commute for safety.

The residents told the Jamaica Observer that they have been awaiting word as to when their lives will return to normality and expressed concern over recent comments at the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) over the onerous public procurement system.

“Anybody at all who wants to build the bridge, make dem do it, because we need it. It nuh matter if is Chinese or Japanese, is the bridge we want and the bridge is needed… As long as dem build a sensible and strong bridge,” Troy resident Raymond Powell told the Sunday Observer last week.

PAAC Chairman Mikael Phillips, who is also Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester North Western, said recently that the project “has really reached nowhere” despite money being set aside in the budget to carry out the construction.

“The Troy bridge [project] has now gone to the Ministry of Finance to my understanding, and…[there is] $3 billion in this year’s budget to deal with bridge construction. So we were told that money is in this current budget, but we have not even started the procurement side of it yet. If that takes 15 months, that’s more than a financial year,” he said on October 4.

Chief executive officer of the National Works Agency E G Hunter acknowledged the MP’s frustration but noted that the issues which affect efficient implementation of projects were not only in relation to government procedure but also takes into account the “inability of the marketplace to be able to respond to different requests that we have.

“We tendered a bridge on two occasions in the last six months. There were no responses. In fact, if you scrutinise the website of the Public Procurement Commission, there are no grade one bridge contractors. So we had to expand the category to include civil engineering…and we still did not get any response from the marketplace,” he said at the recent PAAC.

However, president of the Incorporated Master Builder Association of Jamaica Lenworth Kelly said contractors, for varying reasons, don’t bid on some projects.

“The bridge at Troy has not completed that process. I don’t think that has come to tender. We checked online and we didn’t see the Troy bridge,” he told the Sunday Observer last week.

“From time to time bids come out and nobody bids, it does happen — if the area is remote, it can be based on how they put the qualifying criteria… If you want it more competitive, then you open it up to civil engineering, and the procurement rules sometimes doesn’t give the agency the flexibility,” he added.

Kelly said contractors are at times left feeling that bidding for certain projects is a “waste of time”.

Sometimes it is not understanding that if the entity goes to bid that process takes time and money. You find where contractors, when they bid, it leaves a sour taste in their mouth. They will say they are not going to bid on anything for [certain] entities,” said Kelly.

“You can put out two things to tender and everybody goes after one and ignores the other, it is an open marketplace. What happens a lot of times when agencies put out [a project] to bid and they realise that they don’t get any response, sometimes they will contact us as the master builders and then we will put it out and say to the members and say there is this bid,” added Kelly.

Residents affected by the collapsed bridge said they feel no comfort amid the continued wait and uncertainty about when the bridge will be replaced.

“Every time the rain fall the river rise and the two piece a wood weh dem put cross that the teachers and the schoolchildren walk on, as you look, water wash weh dem deh. You haffi go back in a woodland go chop tree again. Every day a judgement. From the bridge pop down a whole heap of things gone down. Nothing can’t come across, nothing can’t go across. People ago Balaclava dem come yah suh [Troy] and haffi turn back,” said Powell.

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Benefits will far outweigh the challenges

December 28, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Trinidad and Tobago

AS Trinidad and Tobago approaches six months since the full proclamation of the Procurement Act, procurement regulator Beverly Khan acknowledges that while there have been some teething problems, she believes that the benefits will far outweigh the challenges.

Delivering the feature address in a webinar hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI) on Tuesday Khan stated that full proclamation of the Act represents an important milestone in this country’s development, and offers us the best opportunity to establish a fundamentally new and different culture aimed at driving public sector performance rooted in good governance principles.

“These teething problems are a normal part of the development process especially where the change is so significant. However, the benefits to Trinidad and Tobago as the system progresses and then matures, and the potential sustainability of those benefits far outweigh these early challenges,” she said.

Khan said as taxpayers we are all keen to ensure that public funds are effectively utilised by the government in furtherance of the country’s development and the well-being of all citizens.

“The current system is still in its early stages but it is here to stay and at the OPR (Office of the Procurement Regulator) we accept that there are issues to address and efficiencies still to be gained as we gather more experience in implementation,” Khan said.

Khan said the OPR is committed to building effective partnerships.

According to the World Bank governments around the world spend an estimated US$49.5 trillion in public contracts every year, Khan said.

Khan said here in T&T the OPR estimates that last year the value of public contracts in the central government alone accounted for approximately $9 billion which represented four per cent of GDP and 17 per cent of government expenditure.

“We know that this figure will be far higher when public contracts awarded by state enterprise and statutory bodes are taken into account. If indeed the total value were to be in the range of 15 to 22 per cent of GDP then we can easily have $30 to $40 billion being expended in the system on an annual basis,” she said.

“Over the next full year of operations under the Act the OPR will collect the data that will allow for more in-depth analysis of the value and the nature of public contracts and the performance of the system using key indicators aligned with the objects of the Act,” Khan said.

Khan said any analysis of the performance of the procurement system must be juxtaposed against performance on the international corruption perception index.

Last year T&T recorded a score of 42 out of 100 on the Corruption Perception index and ranked 77 out of 180 countries.

“Based on the data used to compile the CPI, the Act has the potential to impact the CPI score in areas of improving access to information on public procurement, reducing bureaucracy, improving efficiency, offering redress, providing protection from victimisation, and ultimately establishing strict penalties for breached of the Act,” she said.

The Public Procurement and Disposal of Property Act was fully proclaimed on April 26 and aims to reform the procurement laws of Trinidad and Tobago in keeping with the principles of good governance, such as accountability, transparency, integrity and value for money.

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Procurement Regulator satisfied with progress after law proclaimed

December 28, 2023 by Mayra Bonilla Lopez

Trinidad and Tobago

Procurement Regulator Beverly Khan says she is “fairly satisfied” with the efforts being made to ensure the compliance of contractors and suppliers to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Property Act, which was fully proclaimed back in April.

Responding to questions from Guardian Media on how operations have been going, Khan said barring minor issues affecting the efficiency of operations, she was neither daunted nor distracted by the process so far.

“In hindsight, we should have placed a bit more attention and effort prior to proclamation to the testing of the systems and requirements that were intended to be introduced, but nevertheless, progress is being made and I am confident that over the next three to six months, there will be accelerated action.”

The act was assented to by the President in January 2015 under the then People’s Partnership government.

However, it was not proclaimed into law then.

Upon assuming office, the People’s National Movement made three amendments to the act between 2016 and 2020.

But it was still not proclaimed into law over the course of the administration’s seven-plus years in office.

The act speaks to securing value of taxpayers’ money in terms of expenditure, accountability, integrity and transparency. It also encourages development of local contractors and local content and seeks sustainable development and procurement.

Khan explained that since full proclamation of the act, the Office of Procurement Regulation has observed a concerted effort on the part of contractors and suppliers dealing with public bodies to achieve compliance.

“From establishing the institutional capacity and naming procurement officers, which is a requirement of each public body, to instituting codes of conduct for public officers and suppliers and contractors, as well as internal control frameworks to developing handbooks and guidelines. There is admittedly a lot still to be done, especially by public bodies, but good progress has been evident so far,” Khan said.

Meanwhile, president of the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry, Fazir Khan, also recognised that barring minor teething problems at the Office of Procurement Regulation, it is expected that the registration of contractors and submission of relevant information will add to the integrity of operations.

Speaking with Guardian Media, Khan also added that with the September 30 deadline having already passed, the publication of the information will be significant.

He said this will assist in removing doubts in the minds of citizens when it comes to how state works are conducted and managed “which will really make for tangible transparency and with that, it is where the start of the benefits of procurement reform lies.”

T&T Contractors’ Association president Glenn Mahabirsingh meanwhile added that his membership has also been moving to comply with the legislation.

He remained encouraged by the public engagement regarding the award of contracts.

“Since the procurement has been proclaimed, we have seen a lot more public tenders, a lot more advertising for tenders on the newspapers, so I would say there are a lot more opportunities because there are a lot more circulation with respect to tenders.”

Mahabirsingh is encouraging suppliers and contractors to adhere to the new regulations, which can ultimately stamp out corruption.

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