{"id":19361,"date":"2021-11-18T21:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T02:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=19361"},"modified":"2021-11-17T13:35:39","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T18:35:39","slug":"bpl-chief-had-to-deal-with-rogue-purchases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/bpl-chief-had-to-deal-with-rogue-purchases\/","title":{"rendered":"BPL Chief Had To Deal With Rogue Purchases"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahamas<\/p>\n

Bahamas Power & Light\u2019s (BPL) chief executive dealt with \u201ca significant issue\u201d by warning staff they faced termination if goods and services were purchased outside established protocols.<\/p>\n

Whitney Heastie told consultants that addressing the ingrained habits of long-serving BPL workers was one of his first moves upon taking the post in October 2017 after the state-owned utility\u2019s management services agreement with PowerSecure was terminated.<\/p>\n

The FTI Consulting report, which has been seen by Tribune Business, disclosed: \u201cHeastie said that this was a significant issue when he became chief executive in October 2017. At that time, he recalled, there were certain long-tenured employees at BPL who believed it was within their purview to independently commit to purchasing goods and services.<\/p>\n

There is no realistic way to completely prevent this behaviour, although without an approved purchase order any resulting invoices would in theory be rejected by BPL\u2019s accounts payable department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Mr Heastie and Joy Darling, supervisor of BPL\u2019s grid solutions unit, said the utility had \u201cmade efforts to discourage such behaviour and to encourage compliance with procurement protocols.<\/p>\n

For example, Heastie said he had recently sent a company-wide e-mail reminding employees that such behaviour is prohibited, and may result in termination,\u201d the FTI Consulting report said.<\/p>\n

The report and its contents have come under attack for being incomplete and one-sided, with the existing BPL Board and management, as well as the former Board faction headed by ex-chair Darnell Osborne, either complaining they were never interviewed or not given a chance to review and respond to the findings before the final version went to the Prime Minister\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Tribune Business understands that Desmond Bannister, former deputy prime minister and minister of works, who had responsibility for BPL under the Minnis administration, did not see the report and was unaware of its contents until disclosure by the media. It is also unclear if Dr Hubert Minnis, the former prime minister, reviewed it as no action seems to have been taken\u00a0by his office.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, BPL\u2019s outgoing Board and existing management are understood to feel they and their reputations have become \u2018collateral damage\u2019 in an effort by the newly-elected Davis administration to dig up \u201cdirt\u201d on its predecessor. And, until the full report is published, they are unable to properly defend themselves since they have not seen the findings themselves.<\/p>\n

FTI Consulting, in conclusions dating from when it completed its work in 2019-2020, asserted: \u201cBPL lacks a coherent approach for the management and control of its written policies in relation to procurement and tendering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, FTI found a significant degree of disorganisation and confusion over which written policies have been approved by the Board, which have been superseded, which are in use, and who is or was responsible for managing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report acknowledged that Shervonne Johnson, who joined BPL in June 2019 as director of risk and compliance, had been given responsibility to clean this up but \u201cdisagreement over the protocols for policy approval\u201d was holding this up.<\/p>\n

And FTI Consulting also described BPL\u2019s procurement policies as \u201clacking in several important areas\u201d, including exceptions and overrides to existing policies. \u201cThis could diminish employee accountability and have negative effects on the overall culture of compliance,\u201d it warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough BPL has an approved tender policy, the policy lacks significant detail in a number of key areas, including tendering procedures, the appointment of tender evaluation committee member and committee composition, conflict disclosures and bid evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

more\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

image: freepik<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bahamas Bahamas Power & Light\u2019s (BPL) chief executive dealt with \u201ca significant issue\u201d by warning staff they faced termination if goods and services were purchased outside established protocols. Whitney Heastie…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":19408,"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":[250],"tags":[157,166],"class_list":["post-19361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-anti-corruption","tag-bahamas"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/invoice-bill-paid-payment-financial-account-concept-freepik.jpeg?fit=1024%2C763&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-52h","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19365,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/bpl-report-pos-worth-millions-lacking-documentation-approval-signatures\/","url_meta":{"origin":19361,"position":0},"title":"BPL REPORT: POs worth millions lacking documentation, approval signatures","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"November 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Bahamas \u00a0 An audit of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) revealed at least one purchase order (PO) to the tune of nearly a quarter of a million dollars was not signed off on by the CEO or chairman, and another $1.3 million purchase order that had the chairman\u2019s signature, but\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\/2021\/11\/pexels-karolina-grabowska-5387261-scaled-e1637173511783.jpg?fit=1200%2C1097&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/pexels-karolina-grabowska-5387261-scaled-e1637173511783.jpg?fit=1200%2C1097&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/pexels-karolina-grabowska-5387261-scaled-e1637173511783.jpg?fit=1200%2C1097&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/pexels-karolina-grabowska-5387261-scaled-e1637173511783.jpg?fit=1200%2C1097&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/pexels-karolina-grabowska-5387261-scaled-e1637173511783.jpg?fit=1200%2C1097&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19635,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/2m-bpl-microgrid-winners-deal-offload\/","url_meta":{"origin":19361,"position":1},"title":"$2m Bpl Microgrid Winner\u2019S Deal Offload","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"December 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Bahamas The winning bidder\u00a0to develop Ragged Island\u2019s $2m solar microgrid, on the\u00a0same day\u00a0it signed the deal with BPL,\u00a0assigned all project rights to\u00a0an entity that failed to make\u00a0the final tender\u00a0round. Consultants hired by the Prime Minister\u2019s Office described this as \u201cconcerning\u201d in a report that detailed numerous flaws in the tendering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tips"","block_context":{"text":"Tips","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/category\/tips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35025,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/pintard-condemns-blatant-disregard-for-procurement-laws-in-bpl-reform-process\/","url_meta":{"origin":19361,"position":2},"title":"Pintard condemns \u201cblatant disregard\u201d for procurement laws in BPL reform process","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"July 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Bahamas Opposition Leader Michael Pintard raised concerns yesterday regarding the Davis administration\u2019s energy reform exercise, arguing that while some elements underwent competitive bidding, other critical aspects blatantly disregarded procurement laws. 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