{"id":24355,"date":"2022-09-29T22:46:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T03:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=24355"},"modified":"2022-09-29T12:04:02","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T17:04:02","slug":"nptab-hands-tied-over-kares-contract-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/nptab-hands-tied-over-kares-contract-source\/","title":{"rendered":"NPTAB hands tied over Kares contract \u2013 source"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guyana<\/p>\n

As questions continue to swirl in relation to the award of the $566.9 million contract to Kares Engineering Inc for the reconstruction of the North Ruimveldt Secondary School, a source at the national tender board told Stabroek News yesterday that despite Kares\u2019 disastrous work on the Kato Secondary School, their hands are tied.<\/p>\n

The source explained that the National Procurement and Tender Adminis-tration Board (NPTAB) is responsible for overseeing the procurement process but dealing with errant contractors falls within the remit of the procuring entities and the Public Procurement Commission (PPC). The source said that the NPTAB Evaluation Committee cannot consider any complaints.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do at NPTAB is overseeing the procurement process and awarding contracts. If someone objects to the award or feels aggrieved then there is a mechanism for them to address that. When it comes to contractors and (questionable performance) we cannot do anything unless it is related to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat needs to happen is that the procuring entity can make a complaint to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and then the contractors can be debarred from bidding for government contracts. Also where companies have been debarred by international bodies, the Public Procurement Commission can also do something called sympathetic debarment and they would be unable to bid. So it is not the NPTAB\u2019s job to debar any contractors, we can only prevent them from bidding after the Public Procurement Commission debars them and that has been communicated to us,\u201d Stabroek News\u2019 source explained.<\/p>\n

The source further explained that once the complaint is lodged then it is up to the PPC to determine the nature of the debarment and the timeframe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do is that we check the debarment register and if you are not on it then we can\u2019t say to a bidder that you can\u2019t bid. If you are on the register then automatically your bid will be disqualified and we do not disqualify you at the opening [of the bids]. When the evaluators come in, the Secretariat will inform them that this person has been debarred and they will check the register to verify that and to see if the period of debarment has expired,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

The bids for the reconstruction of the school were opened on June 23, 2022. Some nine companies were on record as having submitted bids for the project which is estimated to cost $622,375,321.\u00a0 The $566.9M contract was signed on August 24.<\/p>\n

Back in 2012, Kares Engineering was awarded the $728 million contract for the construction of a new secondary school at Kato in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni). The new school was constructed to ease overcrowding at Paramakatoi Secondary.<\/p>\n

The school was not occupied for a long period after it was found to be riddled with major defects after construction ended in 2015. An audit by Rodrigues Architects Limited subsequently found that the building was unsafe for children and that at least $144 million would be required to fix the defects. Kares was subsequently allowed to complete all corrective works on the school, at no cost to the government, under the supervision of Vikab Engineering, which was selected to oversee the works at a cost of $29.2 million.<\/p>\n

The school was officially commissioned in March of 2019 \u2013 some 7 years after work started.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As it relates to Kato Secondary, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said that when the APNU+AFC government took office in 2015, the project was in its defects\/liability period but no action was taken. Then President David Granger had indicated that Kares would no longer be receiving government contracts.<\/p>\n

Back in 2016, Kares Engineering Director Radesh Rameshwar had defended the allegations against his company. In a letter to the press, he said that the school was completed within budget and built within specifications as established by the Government of Guyana.<\/p>\n

Evaluation of Kares\u2019 bid<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the NPTAB\u2019s website the following bids were received for the reconstruction of the North Ruimveldt Secondary School \u2013 Platinum Investments Inc $679,122,111; Dry Rock Construction Inc $687,163,051; QCD Con-struction Inc $521,690,454; M&P Investment $606,636,675; S&K Construction Consul-tancy Service & General Supply $595,000,000; Dundas Construction Inc $ 620,000,000; CB General Contracting Service Inc $531,787,715; Builders Hardware General Supply & Construction $614,853,630 and Kares Engineering Inc $566,975,350.<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/p>\n

image: pexels-rodolfo-quir\u00f3s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guyana As questions continue to swirl in relation to the award of the $566.9 million contract to Kares Engineering Inc for the reconstruction of the North Ruimveldt Secondary School, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":24357,"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":[190,116,71,125],"class_list":["post-24355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-construction","tag-guyana","tag-procurement","tag-public-procurement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pexels-rodolfo-quiro%CC%81s-2219024-1-scaled-e1664471029324.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-6kP","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24585,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/ministry-nptab-cabinet-all-at-fault-over-kares-contract-goolsarran\/","url_meta":{"origin":24355,"position":0},"title":"Ministry, NPTAB, Cabinet all at fault over Kares contract \u2013 Goolsarran","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"October 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran says the Ministry of Education, the national tender board and Cabinet all failed in their duty to the public by not acting to stop Kares Engineering Inc from securing a $566.9m North Ruimveldt Secondary School contract considering its previous poor performance on an even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In 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