United States Virgin Islands
With a portfolio exceeding $1.2 billion in insured government property, DPP faces significant challenges in asset management, collections, fiscal control, and procurement due to understaffing and recent resignations
Like several other departments and agencies within central government, the Department of Property and Procurement is facing critical staff shortages as it prepares for the new fiscal year.
“Our budget request supports the filling of 10 new and vacant positions,” explained Commissioner Lisa Alejandro, as she defended an operating budget request of $20,850,998.
The department’s vacancies include a position for a program manager, who DPP expects will “be instrumental in improving operations in the fiscal unit, which is currently understaffed.” It’s a move that will bring DPP closer to improving unit productivity, Commissioner Alejandro told lawmakers during Thursday’s meeting of the Senate Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance. Hiring new staff is crucial, as DPP lost 8 employees in the current fiscal year – two retirements, one dismissal and five resignations.
Understaffing is also impacting the asset management unit, described by Ms. Alejandro as the “cornerstone of our operation.” The unit oversees the acquisition, use, control and protection, maintenance, inventory and disposal of all fixed assets owned by the Government of the Virgin Islands. “Because of the small team of four employees, and historically, lack of resources, the unit has been unable to undertake its full responsibilities,” the commissioner told legislators.
The Department of Property and Procurement currently manages a portfolio of insured government-owned property that exceeds $1.2 billion. On rental properties, the DPP has collected $3.5 million of $4.4 million owed in FY2024. With only one month left in the fiscal year, lawmakers wondered whether the department will be able to complete collections — including outstanding balances from delinquent tenants.
Again, the realities of inadequate staff were brought to the fore. The fiscal division that holds that responsibility “is really understaffed,” explained Ms. Alejandro. “We had one employee that was pushing collections …[so] we have seen an increase since that time. “However, again, the shortages in staff severely impacted our ability to keep that momentum going.”
There are three vacancies within that unit, including a fiscal control officer and administrative assistant. The last administrator retired after 33 years of service at the department, while the financial officer has resigned. “We are in the process with OMB of bringing on one of the GVI Fellows. He shadowed the now-departed financial control officer, “so he has a lot of knowledge in reconciling and assisting with the budget,” Ms. Alejandro noted. The Fellow, described as an “asset,” may join the staff complement by mid-September.
Other divisions stymied by staffing difficulties include the procurement department where a senior contract administrator is needed. In the property division, DPP is seeking a property inspector and is working to replace their legal advisor as well.
While the Department of Property and Procurement continues to work with its partners to fill crucial vacancies, Commissioner Alejandro says they are “exploring the use of artificial intelligence to improve efficiency by automating simple tasks, leaving more complex and creative tasks to our employees.”
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British Virgin Islands
Thanks to a recent green light from the Caribbean Development Bank, the procurement process for the construction of a new West End ferry terminal is moving ahead following years of delays, officials announced.
After a July 30 approval from the CDB, four shortlisted firms were issued bid documents the same day, according to the Recovery and Development Agency, which is overseeing the project.
The firms are set to take part in a site visit and bidders’ conference today ahead of their deadline to submit bids by 10 a.m. on Oct. 25.
“The RDA is pleased to have arrived at this point in the process and appreciates the CDB’s support,” RDA Director of Procurement John Primo said in an Aug. 23 press release.
“I encourage the shortlisted firms to thoroughly review all documentation to ensure that their bids meet all the required specifications and offer a competitive price.”
The project — which also includes a temporary facility to process passengers during construction of the terminal — is being funded through part of the $65 million Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Loan that the government obtained from the CDB after hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
The preliminary stages of the procurement process have faced various hurdles.
In May 2023, the RDA launched an initial prequalification process, and nine firms responded. But the RDA and CDB reviewed the submissions and determined that none of them met the requirements.
As a result, all nine firms were disqualified.
Last August, the RDA relaunched the process under relaxed criteria approved by the CDB. This time, four of nine bidders prequalified.
“I am particularly pleased to highlight that three local firms (one standalone applicant and two firms within a joint-venture application) were successful in the second round of the prequalification process,” Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer said last October in the House of Assembly.
“This underscores the ability of our local contractors to succeed in the competitive bidding processes.”
Mr. Rymer also said at the time that the full tender process would begin early this year. That didn’t happen as planned, but the CDB’s July 30 approval of the bidding documents will now allow the process to proceed, according to the RDA.
The West End terminal previously cleared about 40 percent of all arrivals into the Virgin Islands before it was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017, officials have said.
But successive governments had been promising a new terminal for more than a decade by that time.
The largest plan to date was proposed in 2010 under a Virgin Islands Party-led government in which Andrew Fahie, who represented West End at the time, served as minister of education and culture. That plan called for a three-storey, 75,000-square-foot facility estimated to cost more than $40 million.
But after the National Democratic Party came to power in 2011, then-Communications and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool said the project would be scaled back dramatically.
In 2013, Mr. Vanterpool proposed a facility costing just under $5 million, but those plans never got off the ground either.
In 2014, the BVI Ports Authority issued a tender notice seeking a $3 million terminal in West End, but no updates followed before Irma.
About four months after Irma destroyed the existing terminal in September 2017, then-Premier Dr. Orlando Smith said the VI branch of international architecture firm OBMI had offered to donate its time towards drawing up architecture and engineering designs for a new facility.
27,000-square-foot plan
But a new VIP administration took office in February 2019 with Mr. Fahie at the helm, and OBMI was not mentioned two months later when RDA officials announced a plan to partner with a private donor who would cover at least half the cost of a 27,000-square-foot building with the capacity to process at least 200 passengers per hour and two ferries at once
That collaboration, however, also fell through without explanation.
Meanwhile, a temporary facility officially opened in August 2019, and in July 2020 government announced new plans to use a portion of the $65 million CDB recovery loan to build the terminal.
After that, scant information was released until August 2021, when Mr. Fahie announced that a $1 million contract was awarded to the German firm INROS for the design and construction management of the project.
At the time, he also promised a new ferry terminal within three years.
12,000-square-foot plan
Community meetings followed, and in February 2022 government revealed a “futuristic and organic” design for a two-storey building spanning 12,000 square feet.
Mr. Fahie also promised then that an international tender process would follow soon with the aim of starting construction in July 2022.
But Mr. Fahie was arrested in April 2022 in Florida on drug-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracy charges, and Seventh District Representative Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley took over as premier.
The RDA subsequently walked back the “futuristic and organic” design after receiving negative feedback.
Instead, it invited the public to vote on one of three designs in an online poll launched in July 2022. The winning design — themed “classic modern” — was unveiled in December 2022 and finalised last year.
42,000-square-foot plan
Last October, Mr. Rymer disclosed in the HOA that the new design is 42,000 square feet — more than three times the size of the 12,000-square-foot “futuristic” design it replaced.
He added that the facility will be designed to process up to 200 passengers per hour, or 200,000 passengers per year.
“It will provide a fast and efficient facility for immigration and customs processing, with separate handling for private and charter yachts, private boats and water taxis from ferry passengers,” he said at the time.
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Trinidad and Tobago
UNC Senator Anil Roberts has castigated the Prime Minister for meeting with businessman Indian businessman Naveen Jindal of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd while the bidding process for the now defunct Petrotrin refinery in Pointe-a-Pierre was ongoing.
Speaking during the UNC’s media briefing in Chaguanas on July 21, Roberts questioned the timing of the decision to sell the refinery.
“As he (Dr Rowley) removed disposal of assets from under the watchful eyes of the procurement regulator, he decides he wants to sell your refinery. It belongs to you.
“Now understand this. Let us pretend that Jindal was not on corruption charges (in India) first. A PM who is in charge of the final decision on who should get what and what process and what sale and what price must never meet with those who would like to purchase assets.
“It’s a red flag, an opportunity for corruption. Developed countries do not have that. We have competitive tender to keep decision makers far away from those who would like to make money from purchasing assets. Rowley stands in your face, takes a picture with a businessman who wants to purchase the refinery. That in itself is wrong, it’s a breach of financial rules, of corporate governance. That is corrupt.”
Roberts said the fact that this occurred while the tender process was going on made the situation worse.
“There was a request for tenders and proposals actually going on and Rowley showing preference, talking about a preferred bidder, talking about this man and smiling and saying he’s interested and then saying, ‘what allyuh vex for, you don’t want investment?’”
Roberts said the Constitution states the “’resources of the nation must be made available in equity throughout for all.’ So let the competition begin.”
Jindal paid a courtesy call on Rowley at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s on June 17.
A statement issued then by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said Jindal’s visit followed Rowley’s trip to India in May, during which he met with several business leaders and invited them to explore investment opportunities in Trinidad and Tobago.
The OPM said Jindal was interested in the potential of the Petrotrin refinery, and that formed part of the discussions at the meeting.
Jindal Steel and Power is one of India’s leading business houses, with a substantial presence in steel, mining, power and infrastructure
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Guyana
Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo reiterated on Thursday his call for public officials to comply fully with the country’s Procurement Act and to avoid undermining the government’s goal of ensuring a level playing field.
Speaking to the media in his capacity as General Secretary of the governing party, Jagdeo said he believed these warnings to public officials need to be repeated. Just this past Tuesday, Jagdeo addressed a gathering in Region Six (East Berbice – Corentyne), stating that the government will crack down on those who use their positions to influence contracts for their families and friends.
Jagdeo urged individuals in positions of influence to declare any conflicts of interest and to refrain from participating in the bidding process if their close friends or relatives are involved in the bidding companies.
“This will not be tolerated,” Jagdeo said, stressing the importance of full compliance with procurement laws. He noted that some individuals had been directly involved in the process while bidding companies were headed by their close friends and relatives.
This he said has raised ire among citizens who often feel that the association had unfairly swayed the award in a particular direction.
Jagdeo has taken this message to outreaches in several regions, stating that the government will follow up with technical teams to ensure adherence to legal procedures. This will be supported by training for public officers involved in procurement at both regional and national levels.
“There should be no excuse for ignorance of the procurement laws of the country,” Jagdeo asserted.
He reiterated similar messages delivered in Essequibo, emphasizing the government’s goal to keep procurement opportunities within regions to build capacity among regional contractors, as has been done across Guyana.
Jagdeo also highlighted that contractors who face delays or deliver substandard work could be subject to liquidated damages and, in some cases, blacklisting.
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Jamaica
The Ministry of Education says the emergency procurement method is being used to carryout repairs at the 94 schools severely damaged during the passage of hurricane Beryl.
Education Minister Fayval Williams says this process was undertaken following review of procurement guidelines and discussions with the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.
Addressing Wednesday’s post Cabinet media briefing, Minister Williams said work has started at a number of the schools, designated as Priority One.
Meanwhile, some schools are still without utility services.
“Beyond the infrastructure damage, we are assessing schools for electricity, water, and telecommunication services. To date, we continue to assess the network of schools across Jamaica. We note that 223 schools have not been reconnected yet to the JPS system. This represents approximately 22 per cent of our schools,” she said, adding that the information has been sent to the Energy Minister to bring to the attention of JPS.
The affected schools are spread across all seven regions, with the majority in regions 4 and 5 which cover Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James, Manchester and St. Elizabeth.
Mrs. Williams said school administrators will be urged to move up the start date for their usual cleanup activities.
Cleanup would usually start a week or two before the reopening of schools, but the minister has urged administrators to begin the process no later than Monday, August 12 this year, “just in case in the process of the cleanup, items are discovered that need to be replaced or restored”.
“We are ensuring grants to our schools are processed earlier than normal. The regions have some financial resources to help with minor repairs as well,” she said.
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