{"id":30931,"date":"2023-11-09T23:42:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T04:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev?p=30931"},"modified":"2023-11-09T16:16:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T21:16:47","slug":"procurement-commission-to-discuss-controversial-865m-pump-station-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/procurement-commission-to-discuss-controversial-865m-pump-station-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Procurement commission to discuss controversial $865M Pump Station contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guyana<\/p>\n

The Public Procurement Commission plans to discuss the award of the controversial $865 million Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Pump Station contract which Member of Parliament David Patterson had written to it about, requesting that an investigation\u00a0 be launched, sources say.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is on the agenda to be discussed tomorrow,\u201d a source told the Stabroek News yesterday.<\/p>\n

Patterson is hoping that the discussions will lead to a decision for an investigation which will examine every aspect of the award, including how a company that did not meet the specified bidding criteria for experience won. Also, how it is that a contract with only one engineer\u2019s estimate was split among three bidders for different projects. It was not immediately clear how three separate pump station awards could be made from one group of bids.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA contract for the construction of a Pump Station at Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Region #3, was awarded to Tepui Group Inc. on August 14, 2023, the procuring entity was the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Ministry of Agriculture, I write seeking an investigation into the award of this contract on the basis that the Contractor was not eligible for the award,\u201d Patterson said in a letter to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Submitted with the letter were the details of the $865,543,500 contract award and the fact that the company was only formed late last year. Also among the documents was the contract award letter from NPTAB to the company, dated August 14.<\/p>\n

Patterson noted that of the 26 companies that bid, the company which won did not meet key bidding criteria, which stated that bidders had to have completed similar projects within the last three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe technical requirements of the bid documents required the successful bidder to have successfully completed projects of a similar nature and size within the last three years. Tepui Group Inc. having been established in August 2022, do not meet these requirements, however, it was still awarded the contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease find attached, documents and articles that are in the public\u2019s domain. I would be grateful, via the PPC, if an investigation can be conducted, and should the award prove defective, that the necessary actions be taken against the entities and individuals associated with this award,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The former minister pointed out that the company\u2019s directors were, Winston Martindale, Paul Rodrigues, Michael Rodrigues known as \u2018Guyanese Critic\u2019, Sunnil Bhagwandin, and Francis Arokium.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

While not addressing the fact that the winner of the $865 million Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Pump Station contract did not meet the specified experience criteria, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) on Wednesday defended the award as it said it was one of the lowest responsive bids.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecifically, with regards to the construction of the Belle Vue Pump Station project, twenty-six (26) companies tendered for that project. Thirteen (13) bids were deemed non-responsive and were therefore not considered for award. Of the thirteen (13) substantially responsive and compliant bids, the lowest priced responsive bid was awarded the Meten-Meer-Zorg Pump Station, while the second lowest responsive bid was awarded the Jimbo\/Grove Pump Station. Tepui was the third lowest priced responsive bidder and was awarded the Belle Vue Pump Station.\u201d<\/p>\n

The board added, \u201cClearly, therefore, merely looking at the bid price announced at the opening of the bid cannot be used to adjudge the winning bidder and, (worse) yet, be used to impugn the integrity of the evaluation process and subsequent award of the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

NPTAB referred to a letter by APNU+AFC MP Ganesh Mahipaul, who bemoaned the evaluation process of the tender but it did not address a similar concern raised by Patterson.<\/p>\n

\n

An NPTAB official pointed this newspaper to the clause: \u201cDemonstrate general construction experience within the past five (5) years by providing a list of verifiable completed projects. The value of the project, year completed and clients\u2019 name and contact numbers must be provided,\u201d the criteria stated.<\/p>\n

But is it unclear if Tepui provided such a list, and if it did, where those projects were executed.<\/p>\n

NPTAB used most of the release to explain what it said constitutes responsiveness of a bid.<\/p>\n

But observers have pointed out that bidders at procurement forums have consistently lamented on the award process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cPublic advertisement of all tenders, public opening of bids (in fact NPTAB is singular in that it opens and reads all bids in full view of bidders and the public at large both in-person and virtually), and the evaluation of bids by a three-person independent evaluation team. The bidding documents contain the criteria to be used for the assessment of the winning bidder (which does not prescribe any role for the gender, race, religion, or political persuasion of the bidder). The evaluators are required to apply the evaluation criteria, and that alone, as the basis for its recommendation to the Board, and the Board\u2019s award is subject to a no-objection of Cabinet, if the value of the award is above G$15 million,\u201d NPTAB explained.<\/p>\n

It said that in any bid, there are administrative, technical, and financial criteria to be followed which are assessed by the Evaluation Committee in making its recommendation to NPTAB. \u201cThese criteria are all fully enshrined in the specific tender document applicable to the specific procurement, whether for goods, works or services. For clarity, administrative compliance includes provision of a valid business registration, valid Guyana Revenue Authority and National Insurance Scheme compliances, applicable bid security, signed bid form by the authorized representative of the firm, and any other document required by the bid document. Non-compliance with any of these would result in the bid not being considered for further evaluation,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cArithmetic check is then conducted to correct any discrepancy. This may result in the actual bid price being different from what was called at the opening of the bid. A key aspect of the evaluation process entails assessing technical and financial capacity. This includes that the bidder demonstrates specific construction experience and evidence of financial capacity. Additionally, bidders must meet the stated equipment and human resources requirements in the bid document,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Noted was that bidders who have three or more outstanding contracts from any public sector agency, would not be considered for additional awards, according to NPTAB.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn outstanding contract is one where more than 20% of the value of the contract is not completed as per original contract deadline for final completion,\u201d it explained.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Guyana The Public Procurement Commission plans to discuss the award of the controversial $865 million Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Pump Station contract which Member of Parliament David Patterson had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":30933,"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":[244,116,71],"class_list":["post-30931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","tag-electricity-energy","tag-guyana","tag-procurement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pexels-sora-shimazaki-5668858-scaled-e1699564529399.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-82T","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33040,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/agri-minister-says-works-underway-on-pump-station-controversially-awarded-to-tepui\/","url_meta":{"origin":30931,"position":0},"title":"Agri Minister says works underway on pump station controversially awarded to Tepui","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"March 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana \u2013 despite serious complaint before procurement commission Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Wednesday announced that works had started on January 30th on the Belle Vue Pump station controversially awarded to the company, Tepui despite the fact that serious complaints have been made about its ineligibility for the task. The\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\/2024\/03\/pexels-connor-forsyth-3971795-scaled-e1709849392312.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/pexels-connor-forsyth-3971795-scaled-e1709849392312.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/pexels-connor-forsyth-3971795-scaled-e1709849392312.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/pexels-connor-forsyth-3971795-scaled-e1709849392312.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38110,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/ndia-still-to-update-procurement-commission-on-tepui-pump-station-contract\/","url_meta":{"origin":30931,"position":1},"title":"NDIA still to update procurement commission on Tepui pump station contract","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"January 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana More than a month later, the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is still to be updated by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) on the progress of the Belle Vue pump station which was controversially awarded to Tepui Inc. A visit by the Sunday Stabroek to the site 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\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/pexels-aleks-marinkovic-5213545.jpg?fit=1024%2C674&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31533,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/ppc-probing-complaint-over-belle-vue-pump-station-award-patterson\/","url_meta":{"origin":30931,"position":2},"title":"PPC probing complaint over Belle Vue pump station award \u2013 Patterson","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"December 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Guyana Former Public Works Minister David Patterson yesterday said that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has said that it has launched a probe into the contentious $865 million Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, pump station contract awarded to the Tepui Group. 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