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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Guyana
The recent award of a $865M contract to construct a Pump Station at Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, has once again called into question the criteria used by National Tender Board in awarding such large contracts.
Opposition Member of Parliament, David Patterson has already written to the Public Procurement Commission asking for a probe into the award of the multimillion-dollar contract, pointing out that the company that has been awarded the contract has not met the requirements set out by the same tender agency.
Patterson said a bigger challenge to the contract may be examined.
“I know of one contractor who tried to engage the Public Procurement Commission and got nowhere, and went to the Courts. So, I do reckon that that is the route we have to go if the Public Procurement Commission wants to continue to be partisan and non-functional, we will have to resort to the Court,” Mr. Patterson said,
He acknowledged that the Court process might be time consuming, but it will ultimately expose the inconsistency and interference in the procurement process.
In his estimation, corruption together with internal party politics seems to be dominating the procurement landscape in Guyana.
Patterson said the Procurement Commission has certainly not been following the Procurement Act.
He said persons with no prior construction experience are now being handed multi-million-dollar contracts, based solely on their closeness to the Government.
The Government has been sidestepping questions on many of the large contracts being handed out, while making known that the tender process is being followed and the rules adhered to.
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Bahamas
THE government is still not complying with the Public Procurement Act’s requirement to be transparent about contract awards, with Economic Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis saying this should change 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.
However, since assuming office, the Davis administration has failed to do this. The Minnis administration was voted out of office around the time the original procurement law came into force.
Financial Secretary Simon Wilson has said the government would publicise contract awards when the reporting capacity of its procurement system, the GoBonfire eProcurement Platform, improves.
In February, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said the Ministry of Finance was finalising a report listing contracts awarded by the government since the Progressive Liberal Party won the election. Nearly eight months later, the report has still not been released.
During a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, Mr Halkitis said much work was required to make the Public Procurement Act work.
“For example, the appointment of a chief procurement, the training of procurement committees not only in the Ministry of Finance but in every single ministry and government agency,” he said.
“We are talking about acquiring IT and getting people trained up on it and so that is what we have been doing for the last 18 months.”
“I would just like to say there is never any sort of desire or intention to circumvent, but it’s very, very easy to go into Parliament and pass a law and say we are doing this and we are doing that.
“You know, we see it with a number of pieces of legislation where we have to go back. I can point to one that we had, which is when we changed the Department of Statistics to the Bahamas National Statistical Institution.
“It had some very good provisions in there, but it also had a lot of provisions that required monetary outlay, training, and amendments to other pieces of legislation. So, you know, it’s good, people say, ‘okay you publish it and you get transparency’. Yes, we agree, but at the end of it, there are lot of requirements that we had to do.”
In July, Bahamas Contractors Association President Leonard Sands said notifying the public about contract awards is not as complicated as government officials suggest.
“Somebody,” he said, “had to sign a document. You know exactly who that person was who signed it, okay? All of the things they tell you are garbage responses to their intention to willfully hide information from the public.”
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Guyana
The Government of Guyana announced that more than 20 companies have submitted bids to compete for a contract to market the country’s share of oil production.
Among the bidders are Exxon Mobil.
The 12-month contract, which allows the country to export its portion of crude produced offshore by a consortium led by Exxon, had in previous years been awarded to Shell.
Guyana’s National Procurement and Tender Administration Board is expected to shortlist bidders soon.
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