{"id":16301,"date":"2021-04-29T08:26:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T13:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=16301"},"modified":"2021-04-29T08:27:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T13:27:00","slug":"bidders-not-being-told-of-outcome-of-major-drug-tenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/bidders-not-being-told-of-outcome-of-major-drug-tenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Bidders not being told of outcome of major drug tenders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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-in breach of procurement laws<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the past four months, billions of dollars in government contracts have been awarded and to date none of the details have been made public, with even some companies that submitted bids being left in the dark about the final decisions, in breach of the procurement laws.<\/p>\n

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While the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) has been making public the minutes from the opening of bids, there has been no follow up on the awards of the contracts and the associated costs to the taxpayer and the country.<\/p>\n

The health care sector, in particular, has seen procurement scandals under both the PPP\/C and the former APNU+AFC administrations, with medical emergencies being cited on many occasions as the justification for the sole-sourcing of supplies.<\/p>\n

The award of contracts for the procurement of medical supplies by the Ministry of Health and the procurement of pharmaceuticals by Georgetown Public Hospital have come under scrutiny from some of the bidders, who are still awaiting notice of the awards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sources close to the process informed this newspaper that three companies were awarded billion-dollar contracts by the Ministry of Health and three by the GPHC, with the smallest of the three for the latter only being awarded because it is the sole distributor for one of the products required.<\/p>\n

Calls to the Chairman of NPTAB were not answered, while attempts to contact the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health Malcolm Watkins were also unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

In November of last year, the invitation for bids were announced by the Ministry of Health and the GPHC.<\/p>\n

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The ministry, which sought to procure COVID-19 medical supplies, stated that bidding would be conducted through the National Competitive Bidding procedure as per the Procurement Act of 2003.<\/p>\n

Some of the items required were infrared thermometers, pulse oximeters, goggles, face shields, particulate respirators, face masks, shoe covers, insolation theatre gowns, protective medical coveralls, disposal gloves, disposable lab coats, surgical gowns, and pleated bouffant caps.<\/p>\n

The evaluation criteria stated that the bidders must \u201cdemonstrate experience and technical capacity by providing documentary evidence that shows the supply of goods\/services similar to the items in the requirement schedule\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bidders had to also \u201cprovide copies of contracts with previous clients or copies of valid invoices showing items supplied to clients\u201d and \u201cdemonstrate the experience of supplying goods\/services to a minimum\u201d value set out.<\/p>\n

The bids were opened on November 18th and among the bidders was the Trinidad and Tobago firm Western Scientific, which had been previously blacklisted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). A Board of Inquiry had recommended that Guyana also blacklist the company.<\/p>\n

The APNU+AFC had come in for strong criticism in 2017 when it single-sourced a contract, valued $134 million, to the company that the IDB had blacklisted for fraudulent practices.<\/p>\n

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Western Scientific was also one of a number of companies identified in Parliament by former Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence as having delivered expired or nearly expired drugs to the ministry. The bid was in two lots at US$27.8M and US$31.5M respectively.<\/p>\n

Bids were also submitted by New GPC ($5.6 billion), Food Maxx ($924 million) Products Unlimited Distributors\u00a0($3 billion), SS&T International (US$1.4 million), GK Professional Management Service ($171 million), K&P Project Management Company ($520 million), VSH United Guyana Inc. ($28.7 million) , Memorex Enterprise ($3 million), Pro Warehouse Services Corp ($4 million), Patal Inc. ($1.3 billion), Max Construction\u00a0 General Supplies ($39.3 million), Yufie Enterprise ($5.8 billion), ADM Labs ($102.4 million), Meditron Inc. ($7.3 billion), Agatha General Consultants ($22 million), Global Health Care ($3.4 billion), Rigenom International Inc. Changzhou Nanfang Medical Company ($4.4 billion) and Car Care Enterprise ($214.5 million).<\/p>\n

This newspaper reached out to some of the companies to enquire if they have been told of the award. Not wanting their names to be published for fear of victimisation, those contacted all said that that they had yet to be notified.<\/p>\n

more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Image: pixabay.com,\u00a0 jessica45<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

-in breach of procurement laws Over the past four months, billions of dollars in government contracts have been awarded and to date none of the details have been made public,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":4892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[112],"tags":[128,121,116],"class_list":["post-16301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-newsdevelopments","tag-bids","tag-caribbean","tag-guyana"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-4eV","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3251,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/secret-cabinet-missive-exposes-another-drug-scandal\/","url_meta":{"origin":16301,"position":0},"title":"Secret Cabinet missive exposes another drug scandal","author":"Project Calls","date":"September 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2026as Govt bypasses Tender Board to handpick ANSA McAL for $515M purchase Despite pronouncements that Government breached the laws of Guyana to award a $605 million drug contract to one of its corporate supporters, the Administration has again sidelined the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) to once again\u2026","rel":"","context":"In 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"Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/pexels-anete-lusina-4792282-scaled-e1665684983652.jpg?fit=1024%2C836&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/pexels-anete-lusina-4792282-scaled-e1665684983652.jpg?fit=1024%2C836&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/pexels-anete-lusina-4792282-scaled-e1665684983652.jpg?fit=1024%2C836&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/pexels-anete-lusina-4792282-scaled-e1665684983652.jpg?fit=1024%2C836&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 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"News\/Developments"","block_context":{"text":"News\/Developments","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/newsdevelopments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/document-agreement-documents-sign-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/document-agreement-documents-sign-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/document-agreement-documents-sign-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/document-agreement-documents-sign-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, 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The Auditor General\u2019s report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020 revealed that that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-martin-lopez-2157191.jpg?fit=1024%2C654&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-martin-lopez-2157191.jpg?fit=1024%2C654&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-martin-lopez-2157191.jpg?fit=1024%2C654&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pexels-martin-lopez-2157191.jpg?fit=1024%2C654&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26890,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/covid-19-procurement-breaches-come-into-focus-at-pac-meeting\/","url_meta":{"origin":16301,"position":4},"title":"COVID-19 procurement breaches come into focus at PAC meeting","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"March 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana Following an audit report over breaches in relation to COVID-19 purchases, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee [PAC], Jermaine Figueira, has recommended that the Ministry of Health make recommendations for the amending of the Procurement Act 2003 to include emergency acquisitions and improved regulations. Figueira made the recommendation yesterday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pexels-cottonbro-studio-3951628-scaled-e1679011883996.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pexels-cottonbro-studio-3951628-scaled-e1679011883996.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pexels-cottonbro-studio-3951628-scaled-e1679011883996.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pexels-cottonbro-studio-3951628-scaled-e1679011883996.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17357,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/pm-fires-warning-shot-over-procurement-whistleblower\/","url_meta":{"origin":16301,"position":5},"title":"PM Fires Warning Shot Over Procurement Whistleblower","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"July 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The prime minister yesterday seemingly threatened to disclose personnel file details on a former government employee who wrote an article challenging the administration\u2019s procurement reform implementation. Dr Hubert Minnis, while closing the budget debate in the House of Assembly, blasted Daniel Ferguson as \u201can angry man\u201d in response to a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News\/Developments"","block_context":{"text":"News\/Developments","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/newsdevelopments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-cottonbro-4098369-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-cottonbro-4098369-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-cottonbro-4098369-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-cottonbro-4098369-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16301"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16346,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16301\/revisions\/16346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}