Bahamas
NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Opposition leader Michael Pintard is slamming the Davis administration over recent comments regarding a $70 million Saudi loan and the government’s delay in complying with the Procurement Act.
Pintard said in a statement, “Instead of doing the right thing and offering a heartfelt apology for them breaking the law yet again by having the Minister of Tourism illegally enter a loan agreement, Minister Michael Halkitis— according to press reports—doubled down by suggesting that Deputy Prime Minister Cooper was the Acting Minister of Finance at the time he reportedly signed the $70 loan agreement for the airport in Exuma.”
He continued, “Minister Halkitis, like every Bahamian, knows that the DPM only acts as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on occasions when the PM is out of the country and, importantly, when the DPM himself is inside The Bahamas. This was not the case in this instance. So please, do not attempt to insult the Bahamian people with that nonsense.”
The loan signed with the Saudi Fund for Development is said to be part of the strategic plan to develop a portfolio of Family Island Airports, in line with the Family Island Airport Renaissance Project. The loan agreement signed on September 27th will facilitate the redevelopment of the Exuma Airport infrastructure, as a part of Phase I of the comprehensive plan.
“We remind the PLP and the public that Section 16 (2)(a) and Section 17 of the Debt Management Act state that ONLY the Minister of Finance is permitted to sign a loan agreement binding the government and that he cannot delegate this to the DPM or any other person. The PLP breaks the law and then seeks to double down on their deception when caught. Again, we demand that the government publish the signed agreement in full,” Pintard asserted.
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Minister Halkitis also stated at a recent press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister that the government should be compliant with the Procurement Act’s requirement to be transparent about contract awards before the end of the year.
The law requires the government to disclose the name and address of winning bidders, the procuring entity, the procurement selection method, and the award amount within 60 days of the contract award.
Pintard stated, “After time and again promising that they will begin obeying the law, they are telling the public that the competent, capable senior public officers in the various government agencies cannot put together a simple spreadsheet with the details of the contracts approved by their departments and then publish that online and in the newspapers. These are the same public officers who have posted notices online and in the press almost daily for years. We beg Minister Halkitis and the PLP to stop trying to denigrate the professionals in the public service. We know they can follow the law and publish this information relatively easily. We remind the government that the boards of public corporations and all of the state-owned enterprises should be posting the details of their contracts over $25,000, and we do not see evidence that any of them are complying with the law.”
He further questioned, “What is stopping the Prime Minister from publishing the first annual procurement report due October 2022? He stated eight months ago that we would get it imminently. Are there things in that report he wants to keep hidden? Why doesn’t the Prime Minister want to tell the Bahamian people how he and his team have been spending the Bahamian people’s money as required by law? When the information is eventually released, the Opposition believes that the public will find out that this PLP administration has given millions and millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to its cronies and hangers-on, likely for jobs that should have been subject to competitive bidding. Why else would the excuses persist?”
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Bahamas
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Opposition has slammed the government for releasing what it described as an “incomplete” procurement report, arguing that it simply does not provide the requisite information legally required.
Free National Movement (FNM) leader Michael Pintard in a statement: “This Davis-led PLP never fails to underwhelm and underperform. Late into this past Sunday night, the Ministry of Finance released an incomplete procurement report. Even with it being well late, this so-called procurement report simply does not provide the requisite information that the Prime Minister is legally required to provide to the Bahamian public.
“Even in something so straightforward and basic, this PLP government has failed to follow the law in the presentation of this report in a number of instances. First, we have no information provided on any procurement from September 2021 to August 2022, although the government still has a legal obligation to provide this information consistent with the law in force at that time.”
Pintard further noted that none of the contracts awarded by state-owned enterprises such as NIB, the Public Hospitals Authority, Water & Sewerage, or the University of The Bahamas are included in the report.
He also argued that the Prime Minister, as Minister of Finance, is required to lay the report in the House of Assembly.
“The fact that this half-baked incomplete report has come out in the dead of night via press release is nothing more in my view than a sad but now common attempt by the flailing and failing Davis-led administration to sidestep accountability for its contents.
“The opposition rejects this so-called report outright. This is not what the law requires. We demand that the Prime Minister comes to Parliament at the next sitting with a full and proper procurement report showing all contracts by government agencies and state-owned enterprises for the period of September 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023,” said Pintard.
The Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) yesterday welcomed the government’s recent disclosure of over 800 contracts through the Bonefire eProcurement portal, but noted that the list is not comprehensive and lacks information regarding the benefit owner requirement.
The highly-anticipated public procurement disclosure sheds light on the allocation of 843 contracts with a combined value of $140 million through its online portal. These contract awards encompass the period from September 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. The disclosure does not encompass all contracts issued by the Davis administration during the majority of its first year in office or those awarded during the concluding days of the Minnis administration.
The initial Public Procurement Act, effective from September 1, 2021, has since been repealed and replaced. Under the original act, it was mandatory for all government contracts to be made public within 60 days of their issuance. The government was required to disclose crucial information, including the names and addresses of winning bidders, the procuring entity, the procurement selection method, and the contract’s value.
The revised Public Procurement Act became effective on July 1 of the current year. However, the recent release only provides contract values and identifies the procuring entity, procurement vendor, and winning bidder. Notably, it lacks the address of the winning bidder and additional details.
ORG Executive Director Matt Aubry noted: “In accordance with Section 57 of the Public Procurement Act 2023, it is required that the notice of awarded contracts should include the following specific elements, as outlined below. The report submitted does encompass most of these components. However, there are notable exceptions. Notably, the “location of performance” is not consistently provided within the description of the scope, and none of the addresses of the businesses are provided, though the law specifies that only private or residential addresses are to be redacted.”
Aubry also noted that Section 58 of the legislation mandates that procurement contracts financed by international funding agencies such as the IDB and IMF must be accompanied by the government’s publication of the beneficial owners of the awarded vendor within 60 days of the contract being awarded.
“Regrettably, this crucial requirement does not appear to be fulfilled, as there are no specified beneficial owners listed in the current report,” he said.
“It is essential to acknowledge that the list of contracts in this report is not exhaustive, as certain contract categories, including legal services, financial consultancies, property rental or acquisitions, audit and actuarial services, telecommunications, rental properties, and research and development-related expenses, are exempt from mandatory reporting in the legislation. In its benchmarking and evaluation of this Act before its passage, ORG recognized these exclusions and advocated for their inclusion as best practices. It is also notable that awarded contracts that would have been required under the Public Procurement Act, 2021 remain unreported,” Aubry said.
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Jamaica
MINISTER of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke says that public sector bureaucrats have to make themselves much more familiar with the provisions in the Procurement Act than they are currently.
“There are a lot of tools that can be used, depending on the circumstances, that we have to redouble our efforts in training procurement officers in the use of the Procurement Act,” Dr Clarke told the House of Representatives after tabling the third supplementary estimates at Gordon House last week.
He was responding to questions raised about the Act and its influence on projects on procurement, including a $40-million road programme which has been delayed despite its approval 10 months ago.
“There is a lot in there that can allow for accelerated performances of capital projects. But, having said that, we continue to review the Procurement Act, and at some point not too far off in the future we plan to introduce a few amendments that can help to make that system more efficient,” Dr Clarke said.
“However, no matter what changes are made, we have to ensure that the persons who are responsible for signing the Act are familiar with it,” he reiterated.
Dr Clarke was responding to Opposition spokesman on finance Julian Robinson’s questions about the failure of the Act to fulfill certain obligations. Robinson said he wanted to know the extent of the Public Procurement Act’s contribution to debates on capital expenditure.
He said that the Parliament was headed for a situation where all capital programmes would have to be approved by the procurement body, after lengthy processing.
“We are getting to the stage where we cannot implement the projects. I believe we have to examine how we deal with public procurement. We want to ensure that there is no corruption but when you get to a system where you have $8.7 million that you cannot spend, that is a problem,” Robinson said.
“That is retarding economic growth and development and, frankly, it is not stopping corruption. I believe we have to examine it,” Robinson insisted.
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Guyana
The Public Procurement Commission plans to discuss the award of the controversial $865 million Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Pump Station contract which Member of Parliament David Patterson had written to it about, requesting that an investigation be launched, sources say.
“It is on the agenda to be discussed tomorrow,” a source told the Stabroek News yesterday.
Patterson is hoping that the discussions will lead to a decision for an investigation which will examine every aspect of the award, including how a company that did not meet the specified bidding criteria for experience won. Also, how it is that a contract with only one engineer’s estimate was split among three bidders for different projects. It was not immediately clear how three separate pump station awards could be made from one group of bids.
“A contract for the construction of a Pump Station at Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Region #3, was awarded to Tepui Group Inc. on August 14, 2023, the procuring entity was the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Ministry of Agriculture, I write seeking an investigation into the award of this contract on the basis that the Contractor was not eligible for the award,” Patterson said in a letter to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), on Tuesday.
Submitted with the letter were the details of the $865,543,500 contract award and the fact that the company was only formed late last year. Also among the documents was the contract award letter from NPTAB to the company, dated August 14.
Patterson noted that of the 26 companies that bid, the company which won did not meet key bidding criteria, which stated that bidders had to have completed similar projects within the last three years.
“The technical requirements of the bid documents required the successful bidder to have successfully completed projects of a similar nature and size within the last three years. Tepui Group Inc. having been established in August 2022, do not meet these requirements, however, it was still awarded the contract.
“Please find attached, documents and articles that are in the public’s domain. I would be grateful, via the PPC, if an investigation can be conducted, and should the award prove defective, that the necessary actions be taken against the entities and individuals associated with this award,” he added.
The former minister pointed out that the company’s directors were, Winston Martindale, Paul Rodrigues, Michael Rodrigues known as ‘Guyanese Critic’, Sunnil Bhagwandin, and Francis Arokium.
While not addressing the fact that the winner of the $865 million Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Pump Station contract did not meet the specified experience criteria, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) on Wednesday defended the award as it said it was one of the lowest responsive bids.
“Specifically, with regards to the construction of the Belle Vue Pump Station project, twenty-six (26) companies tendered for that project. Thirteen (13) bids were deemed non-responsive and were therefore not considered for award. Of the thirteen (13) substantially responsive and compliant bids, the lowest priced responsive bid was awarded the Meten-Meer-Zorg Pump Station, while the second lowest responsive bid was awarded the Jimbo/Grove Pump Station. Tepui was the third lowest priced responsive bidder and was awarded the Belle Vue Pump Station.”
The board added, “Clearly, therefore, merely looking at the bid price announced at the opening of the bid cannot be used to adjudge the winning bidder and, (worse) yet, be used to impugn the integrity of the evaluation process and subsequent award of the contract.”
NPTAB referred to a letter by APNU+AFC MP Ganesh Mahipaul, who bemoaned the evaluation process of the tender but it did not address a similar concern raised by Patterson.
An NPTAB official pointed this newspaper to the clause: “Demonstrate general construction experience within the past five (5) years by providing a list of verifiable completed projects. The value of the project, year completed and clients’ name and contact numbers must be provided,” the criteria stated.
But is it unclear if Tepui provided such a list, and if it did, where those projects were executed.
NPTAB used most of the release to explain what it said constitutes responsiveness of a bid.
But observers have pointed out that bidders at procurement forums have consistently lamented on the award process.
“Public advertisement of all tenders, public opening of bids (in fact NPTAB is singular in that it opens and reads all bids in full view of bidders and the public at large both in-person and virtually), and the evaluation of bids by a three-person independent evaluation team. The bidding documents contain the criteria to be used for the assessment of the winning bidder (which does not prescribe any role for the gender, race, religion, or political persuasion of the bidder). The evaluators are required to apply the evaluation criteria, and that alone, as the basis for its recommendation to the Board, and the Board’s award is subject to a no-objection of Cabinet, if the value of the award is above G$15 million,” NPTAB explained.
It said that in any bid, there are administrative, technical, and financial criteria to be followed which are assessed by the Evaluation Committee in making its recommendation to NPTAB. “These criteria are all fully enshrined in the specific tender document applicable to the specific procurement, whether for goods, works or services. For clarity, administrative compliance includes provision of a valid business registration, valid Guyana Revenue Authority and National Insurance Scheme compliances, applicable bid security, signed bid form by the authorized representative of the firm, and any other document required by the bid document. Non-compliance with any of these would result in the bid not being considered for further evaluation,” the agency said.
“Arithmetic check is then conducted to correct any discrepancy. This may result in the actual bid price being different from what was called at the opening of the bid. A key aspect of the evaluation process entails assessing technical and financial capacity. This includes that the bidder demonstrates specific construction experience and evidence of financial capacity. Additionally, bidders must meet the stated equipment and human resources requirements in the bid document,” it added.
Noted was that bidders who have three or more outstanding contracts from any public sector agency, would not be considered for additional awards, according to NPTAB.
“An outstanding contract is one where more than 20% of the value of the contract is not completed as per original contract deadline for final completion,” it explained.
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Guyana
Amid concerns about the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board’s (NPTAB) award of a GY$865.5 million contract to build a pump station, former President Donald Ramotar on Thursday recommended that government establish its own construction arm to force contractors to bid with realistic rather than inflated prices.
“I believe that government should develop some capacity; some of its own capacity to protect itself from some of the prices that I see that are being charged in different type of construction in his country; it to take over but just to ensure that the treasury is not raided by this new class of contractors that we find in our land,” he told an “An Evening of Reflection on October 5th 1992” at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre.
The PPP returned to office in 1992 after almost 30 years of being in opposition due to elections that had been widely regarded as rigged gy the People’s National Congress (PNC).
Mr Ramotar, who was President from 2011 to 2015, later told Demerara Waves Online News that he was unsure whether NPTAB was tasked with ensuring that contracts were awarded in keeping with costs and specifications. At the same time, he stressed the importance of having a government-run construction arm “so that they can have a better idea of what real costs are” and so help to reduce the cost of projects and have even more.
“First of all, I think the government should use some of its own capacity to do some work in order to get an idea of what costs are and they can get an idea of how much they’re being ripped off and if they are being ripped off, and secondly my idea is that, if the government goes out for a job and they think the bid is far too high, despite they’re giving it to the lowest bidder, then they can take the job themselves,” he said.
According to Mr Ramotar, if such a system is put in place contractors would be much more careful in attempting to inflate prices, resulting in them being more competitive and Guyanese getting better value for money.
The NPTAB was this week forced to defend the award of the GY$865.5 million contract for the construction of a pump station at Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, However, NPTAB has not addressed opposition parliamentarian David Patterson’s concern that Tepui Group might not have the experience, having only been established one year ago. Mr Patterson has asked the Public Procurement Commission to investigate whether the award of that contract was above board.
The opposition has called for the Procurement Act to be amended to allow for opposition representation on NPTAB.
Meanwhile, Dr Jerry Jailall said he and his wife attended Thursday’s event “because we’re Jaganites”. He said Guyanese should always bear in mind what People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Founder-Leader and former President Cheddi Jagan would have liked to see for Guyana. “If Dr Jagan is our living guide, the party needs to ask itself what would Dr Jagan do about poverty, about oil and all the kinds of problems that we have here in Guyana.”
He said democracy was not suddenly ushered in with free and fair elections on October 5, 1992 but instead has to be built. “As we build a democracy under this PPP government, the people must still win. We must put the working class first, middle and last and we should never give people cause on the other side to say this party is not a working class party anymore,” he said.
Mr Jailall asked that housewives, pensioners, disabled, the weak, small farmers, carpenters and the self-employed and ask what would Dr Jagan have done
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