Guyana
The bipartisan parliamentary Public Accounts Committee on Monday said the Guyana Police Force breached the Procurement Act by paying all of the GY$123.344 million to the same supplier for four contracts within one month of the award although none of the items had been delivered.
“That was a breach of the Procurement Act. You can’t pay upfront all of the money,” government member of the PAC, Gail Teixeira remarked. She added that the law stipulates the percentage to be paid in advance, and in some instances, monies could be retained for defects liability.
The second breach, according to Ms Teixeira, was that the police force did not receive any supplies. “Having paid up all the money, the police had nothing to hold on to. They just had to wait until the supplier was able to deliver and that’s why you don’t pay all the money upfront,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mae Toussaint Jr. Thomas-Meerabux conceded that “it was a clear breach of the procurement system” and that was no longer being done. “The Act is honoured,” she remarked.
Assistant Commissioner Calvin Brutus, in responding to questions initiated by opposition PAC member Ganesh Mahipaul, told the committee that the contracts were awarded to M.S. Trading and the awards were made by cabinet. “The items were subsequently supplied. I think they had the issue of COVID which impacted shipping,” he said. However, Mr Mahipaul noted that COVID began in March, 2020.
Mr Mahipaul noted that the Auditor General’s report states that the contracts were awarded in December 2019 under several line items and the full contract sum was paid to the supplier on January 2 and January 6, 2020 “before any of the items were supplied in breach of the condition of the contracts.” Commenting on the transaction, the opposition lawmaker said 100 percent of the contract sum was paid but nothing was delivered. “This has nothing to do with cabinet or government. This has everything to do with facilitating the payment,” he said.
The Auditor General’s Report notes that the supplier failed to supply the items within the stipulated time. According to that document, up to October 5, 2020, items totalling GY$36.910 million were still outstanding. Further, at a meeting held on October 16, 2020, it was disclosed that the supplier had delivered additional items on those contracts and efforts had been made to have the supplier deliver the additional supplies, but audit checks on October 22, 2020 revealed that items totalling GY$22.193 million were still outstanding.
Auditor General Deodat Sharma told PAC that the latest update from State auditors was that all of the items had now been supplied, contrary to a three-month old statement that GY$22.193 million worth of items were yet to be supplied. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs told the PAC that a report would be provided to the Chairman of that accountability body in two weeks. Those items included office materials and supplies, janitorial cleaning supplies, electrical materials, and equipment maintenance materials.
The Auditor General was asked by the PAC to submit an updated reconciliation on that paragraph that deals with those supplier contracts that were awarded to M.S. Trading.
Government PAC member, Dharamkumar Seeraj said notwithstanding the Auditor General’s remark that the items were all supplied, the fact was that the Procurement Act was violated. “This clearly is a breach of the Procurement Act so I hope that the accounting officer/head of agency will make note and to avoid a reoccurrence,” he said
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Guyana
Amid criticisms of it, the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is inviting persons aggrieved over the award of any government contract to lodge a formal complaint so as to trigger an administrative review.
“Dissatisfied with the rejection of your bid? Lodge a complaint for an administrative review,” a notice in the state-owned Sunday Chronicle said.
The PPC pointed out that this country’s procurement laws provide for a review by it, should the complainant make their dissatisfaction known though a formal process within a specified period.
“The Procurement Act, Cap73:05 provides that a bidder whose tender or proposal has been rejected may submit a written protest to the procuring entity,” the PPC explained,
“The protest must be submitted within five business days following the publication of the contract award decision. If the protest is not reviewed or the bidder is dissatisfied with the review, the bidder may submit a request for a review within three working days to the Public Procurement Commission. Decisions on the review are final and binding on the procuring entity,” the Commission also noted.
Meanwhile, in a separate notice in the Sunday Chronicle on the issue of Debarment of Suppliers or Contractors, the PPC said that it is mandated by law, Cap 73:05 of the Procurement Act to adjudicate proceedings to debar.
“A procuring entity or any other person may submit a proposal in writing to the Public Procurement Commission for the debarment of a supplier or contractor. A debarment period may be for a minimum of one (1) year but no more than 10 years,” the PPC stated.
On debarment, it pointed out that “a procuring entity shall not solicit or accept bids, proposals or quotations from a debarred supplier or contractor, nor consider bonds, proposals or quotations submitted by a debarred supplier or contractor prior to the debarment. A debarred contractor or supplier may apply to the PPC for a reduction in the duration of the debarment period or its termination. “
Facing criticisms that it was not discharging its functions, the PPC had on April 24 of this year said that several complaints before it were “under active consideration”. The statement had come on the heels of a blistering from the Alliance For Change (AFC) that the procurement body was not doing its work.
AFC Parliamentarian David Patterson had blasted the PPC for spending taxpayers’ money but not executing its constitutionally enshrined functions and addressing complaints. He also expressed bewilderment that the PPC was seeking legal advice on its functioning despite the fact that a previous commission operated under the current provisions.
Patterson had said on April 21st this year that complaints were raised on the award of the following:
– Eight contracts awarded to V. Dalip Enterprise, by the Regional Democratic Council, Region #9, totalling $106.8M. This contractor had been debarred by the PPC in November 2019 until December 2030. These awards were also flagged in the Auditor General’s report of 2021.
– A contract awarded to V. Dalip Enterprise for the four-lane Highway from Eccles to Great Diamond, by the Central Housing and Planning Authority, totalling $890M, this Contractor as mentioned before was previously debarred by the PPC.
– A contract awarded to St8ment Investment Inc. for the construction of the Bamia/Amelia’s Ward Primary School by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Patterson said that public records showed that this company was established only eight months prior to the award, bringing into question if the company would have met the technical criteria as set out in NPTAB’s Standard Bidding Docu-ments.
Patterson had also said that he had been unofficially informed that the commission, after being dissatisfied with internal legal advice, was in the process of seeking the following legal advice from external sources: – To determine if the commission can execute any of its functions listed in the Constitution, which is the supreme law of this country.
– To determine if the commission can carry out any investigation into any breaches which occurred before being sworn in, in July 2022.
– To determine, if only suppliers or contractors directly associated with a specific contract can request investigation not members of the public.
“This is a bizarre and unorthodox position since a Member of Parliament previously brought a complaint regarding the Demerara Harbour Bridge feasibility study, which the PPC investigated,” Patterson said.
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Trinidad and Tobago
The Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) will host its highly anticipated 2023 Engineering and Procurement Conference and Exhibition from July 23rd to 27th at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad and Tobago.
The Association is pleased to announce that this year’s engineering conference is being hosted alongside its Utility Member, Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) and Independent Power Producer (IPP) Member, Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Powergen).
CARILEC is confident that this conference will add tremendous value to all attendees, particularly with the support and assistance of its esteemed members.
Under the theme, “Powering Transition in the Caribbean Energy Sector through Smart Designs, Efficient Procurement and Effective Design”, this event will focus on innovative approaches and solutions to the challenges currently faced in the development of future power generation in the region.
The Opening Ceremony of the Conference and Exhibition will feature a distinguished keynote address by Dr Sanjay Garth Bahadoorsingh, a senior lecturer in Energy Systems and Electrical Power Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of the WestIndies (UWI), St. Augustine.
Dr Bahadoorsingh holds a B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UWI, an M.Sc. in Power Systems Engineering and Economics from The University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST) and a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from The University of Manchester (UoM).
He is the Chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards National Technical Committee:
Electrical Codes, and President of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) National Electrotechnical Committee Affiliate Country Programme for Trinidad and Tobago. Dr Bahadoorsingh has also served as the Assistant Chief Examiner for CXC’s CAPE Electrical and Electronic Technology and the Chairman of the Electric Vehicle Working Group at the Government Electrical Inspectorate (GEI).
CARILEC is elated to have Dr Bahadoorsingh deliver the keynote address at this year’s conference and is assured that his perspective on the conference theme and other relevant industry topics will be quite impactful to all attendees.
CARILEC’s 2023 Engineering and Procurement Conference will deliver a comprehensive agenda which will impart very pertinent knowledge to attendees, particularly on trending topics within the electric utility engineering and procurement areas.
These topics include Sustainable Energy Transformation, Energy Market Integration, Beyond Net Metering: The Virtual Power Plant, and Algorithms for Distribution Feeder Deployment, to name a few. Moreover, the Conference will also comprise of a post-training workshop with a focus on procurement in the electric energy sector.
CARILEC has recognized the value of bespoke training to its members and partners and has incorporated this aspect into this event.
Learning and development, knowledge sharing, and capacity building remain core aspects of CARILEC’s mandate in the electric energy sector and the upcoming Conference will certainly execute in this regard.
This event would not have been possible without the invaluable support and assistance of the Association’s generous sponsors. The CARILEC Team wishes to acknowledge its Platinum Sponsor:
Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation
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Births Virgin Islands
Minister for Health and Social Development Honourable Vincent O. Wheatley is featured with representatives from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)/ Pool Procurement Services (PPS). The representatives visited the Virgin Islands from July 4 to 5 to discuss ongoing pooled procurement of Health Commodities (Medical Products and Laboratory Supplies), and the proposed expansion of products for pooled procurement (Dialysis, Dental and Assistive Supplies).
Discussions were also held on the upcoming Policy Board meeting that will be held in the Virgin Islands in October 2023. Honourable Wheatley was also presented with a book titled “Asthma Fun Facts for Parents & Kids 6 Years to 11 Years” by local authors Mrs. Gracia Wheatley-Smith and Miss Kenya Jeffers.
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Cayman Islands
The suggestion that Cayman doesn’t have room to accommodate enough solar panels or wind turbines to generate all of its power from renewables has been debunked in the government’s new draft National Energy Policy. The revised policy, which is even more ambitious than the last one, has a target of generating 100% of our power from green resources by 2050 and 30% by 2030. While it has been established that Cayman has the capacity to adapt to a greener future, it now needs to pick up the pace.
According to the draft NEP, in order to meet the 100% renewable energy target by 2050, the Cayman Islands will have to have solar panels on rooftops, car parks and old quarries in addition to utility-sized solar farms and also review the exclusion zones to develop wind farms.
CUC is currently buying energy from just one utility solar farm in Bodden Town, which generates just 5MW of electricity. The project, built by Entropy Cayman Solar Ltd, was plagued with problems and sold in 2019. Since then, CUC has begun work on a battery installation and last year OfReg began a procurement exercise for a 23MW plant, but there has been no update on the progress of that bid.
The rest of the power generated across Grand Cayman comes from the handful of property owners who are completely off the grid and generating their own energy through domestic-scale renewables or from those on the CORE and DER feedback programmes
Both OfReg and CUC have been blamed by those in the green energy sector for stalling the development of alternative sources of energy, and they believe a radical overhaul is needed to begin the rollout of renewables in earnest.
The revised policy, which was published this week, sets out what needs to be done to help Cayman create a greener future. But it is clear that a great deal of investment will be necessary to give shape to the policy, and there are no mandatory requirements for developers. Instead, the policy depends on encouragement and the goodwill of those with the power and the purse strings. It also relies on the development of better alternative energy technologies and a drop in prices as the sector evolves.
According to the authors of the report, previous analyses had suggested possible limitations in the availability of attainable acreage for renewable energy generation development, but that has been dismissed. The policy sets out how the country can make the most of both its year-round sunshine and strong winds.
“Careful assessment of available lands, including landfills and mined-out quarries, as well as available rooftops and parking lots, has yielded a sufficiency of sites conducive to the development of utility-scale and DG opportunities,” the draft policy has found.
It also noted that government would need to revise the airport exclusion zone restrictions to accommodate wind energy facilities on Grand Cayman and outlines how Doppler and airport radar stations can coexist with utility-scale wind energy facilities.
When the report was undertaken in 2021, only 3% of power was generated from renewables here. While that number has increased slightly over the last 18 months, less than 8% of Grand Cayman’s capacity is generated by green resources. But with CUC’s continued customer growth as the population increases, the amount of diesel being burned is actually growing.
In his introduction to the draft policy, Premier Wayne Panton, who is the minister for sustainability, said that for future generations to thrive, the Cayman Islands must shift away from its reliance on expensive, volatile and polluting fossil fuels to affordable, reliable and clean renewable energy.
“In light of the recently released Climate Change Risk Assessment for the Cayman Islands, this policy update includes new policies for energy resiliency to protect against storms, electric vehicles and energy storage, all of which support greenhouse gas emission reductions,” the premier wrote. “The updated policy acknowledges that sustainable development requires a greater emphasis on social equity to promote energy access and professional opportunities for all Caymanians.”
Despite this emphasis on equity, the policy says nothing about public ownership of renewables, which Panton proposed in April last year. In his keynote address at the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum, he said his government would seek to take control of Cayman’s future green energy resources through majority ownership of any new solar or other renewable energy facilities.
Panton has continued to make his commitment to renewable energy clear. He stated again in the introduction to the NEP that Cayman cannot turn the tide against global warming but has a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use of environmentally-friendly sources of energy.
“Advancing our renewable energy goals will also help protect our islands from the volatility of traditional fuels and the external shocks of international markets,” he said.
“The vision of the policy, ‘Enhancing and embracing a sustainable lifestyle through responsible,
affordable, and innovative energy supply and consumption’, speaks to our collective aspiration for a
Cayman Islands that is held up as one of the most sustainable countries in the world, a trio of islands
where all its citizens can thrive; a peaceful and prosperous place known for its resourcefulness, its
diligence, its excellence, and its innovativeness.”
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