{"id":3581,"date":"2018-01-10T07:50:26","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T12:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projectcalls.com\/?p=3581"},"modified":"2018-01-09T18:50:21","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T23:50:21","slug":"tt-companys-bids-for-health-contracts-on-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/tt-companys-bids-for-health-contracts-on-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"T&T company\u2019s bids for health contracts on hold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the award of contracts to impugned Trinidad and Tobago company Western Scientific, the Ministry of Public Health has put on hold the company\u2019s bids for two other contracts.<\/p>\n

The suspension of the bids followed questions raised about how Western Scientific could be used for sole-sourcing by the Public Health Ministry after damning conclusions were made about the company by a Board of Inquiry (BoI) that investigated procurement practices at the ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am aware that two contracts were signed this week and Western Scientific was issued with those contracts, which signals a green light for them to supply\u2026,\u201d Procurement Officer of the Ministry of Public Health Phillip Bryan told Sunday Stabroek on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026And there is a bid for two other contracts, and those contracts we will not be going ahead with because that is the\u00a0<\/span>instruction I have, but I can\u2019t speak to what items exactly,\u201d he added, before explaining that he did not have the information at hand.<\/p>\n

In mid-August, government had announced that the company had secured a contract for the procurement of Sysmex reagents for the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) to the tune of US$154,154 (equivalent to $31,937,626). This immediately raised eyebrows as the BoI, established by the Ministry of the Presidency into allegations of mismanagement and malpractices in the procurement of pharmaceuticals at the Ministry of Public Health, had recommended in January that the company\u2019s representative should be barred from future tenders.<\/p>\n

The recommendation came on the heels of information that an employee of the Public Health Ministry had conspired with the Western Scientific representative to gain insider information.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the BoI had said that the Trinidadian company was hostile to the BoI and failed to appear before it. The BoI also recommended that legal advice be sought over the reviewing of contracts awarded to the Western Scientific representative.<\/p>\n

Western Scientific has also been blacklisted by the Inter-American Develop-ment Bank for five years over alleged fraudulent practices here.<\/p>\n

The employee of the company cited by the IDB was the same one impugned by the BoI in January of this year. Given all of this, the Public Health Ministry would have to explain why it went ahead with Western Scientific and with single-sourcing when the items were likely available from multiple sources.<\/p>\n

Western Scientific was also one of a number of companies that Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence had told Parlia-ment in June this year had delivered expired or nearly expired drugs to the Ministry.<\/p>\n

Lawrence assumed control of the ministry in January and vowed to revamp procurement systems. She will now face questions as to how Western Scientific was used for single-sourcing despite its track record. Single-sourcing is supposed to be limited to situations where only one company is able to supply certain goods.<\/p>\n

Sources also say that the ignoring of the BoI recommendation by the ministry will call into question the purpose of dozens of audits and Commissions of Inquiry convened by the APNU+AFC government. In a number of cases, recommendations have not been acted on and Western Scientific is a prime example.<\/p>\n

\u2026 more<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image:\u00a0\u00a0SimonQ (flickr)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the award of contracts to impugned Trinidad and Tobago company Western Scientific, the Ministry of Public Health has put on hold the company\u2019s bids for two other contracts. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":2874,"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":[157,116,139,146,71],"class_list":["post-3581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-newsdevelopments","tag-anti-corruption","tag-guyana","tag-healthcaremedical","tag-procedures","tag-procurement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Pills-SimonQ-flickr.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6u9Qa-VL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16301,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/bidders-not-being-told-of-outcome-of-major-drug-tenders\/","url_meta":{"origin":3581,"position":0},"title":"Bidders not being told of outcome of major drug tenders","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"April 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"-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, with even some companies that submitted bids being left in the dark about the final decisions, in breach of the\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\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/lady-justice-Jessica45-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C767&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3249,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/procurement-board-silent-on-contract-to-controversial-tt-company\/","url_meta":{"origin":3581,"position":1},"title":"Procurement board silent on contract to controversial T&T company","author":"Project Calls","date":"September 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) was mum yesterday on the recent awarding of a US$154,154 contract to Trinidadian company, Western Scienti-fic, which was accused earlier this year of delivering expired or nearly expired drugs to the Ministry of Public Health. At last week\u2019s post-cabinet briefing, Minister of\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\/2017\/09\/See-no-evil-speak-no-evil-hear-no-evil-Japanexperterna.se-flickr.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/See-no-evil-speak-no-evil-hear-no-evil-Japanexperterna.se-flickr.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/See-no-evil-speak-no-evil-hear-no-evil-Japanexperterna.se-flickr.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/See-no-evil-speak-no-evil-hear-no-evil-Japanexperterna.se-flickr.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16303,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/belize-business-bureau-calls-for-a-commission-of-inquiry-on-questionable-contracts\/","url_meta":{"origin":3581,"position":2},"title":"Belize Business Bureau calls for a Commission of Inquiry on Questionable Contracts","author":"Mayra Bonilla Lopez","date":"April 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Belize Business Bureau is calling for a commission of inquiry into a contract that may have been facilitated with insider information and influence.\u00a0 The Bureau\u2019s President Arturo Lizarraga has written the Contractor General Omar Mitchel expressing concerns with a specific tender process and bid selection. 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Marlon Johnson, the Ministry of Finance's acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business the long-awaited Public Procurement Bill 2019 was designed to produce better\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\/2018\/05\/know-the-rules-chalk-board-geralt-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/know-the-rules-chalk-board-geralt-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/know-the-rules-chalk-board-geralt-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/know-the-rules-chalk-board-geralt-Pixabay.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3587,"url":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/proof-infrastructure-ministry-tampering-with-contracts\/","url_meta":{"origin":3581,"position":4},"title":"\u2018Proof\u2019 Infrastructure Ministry tampering with contracts","author":"Michele Marius","date":"November 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2026has a track record and I am giving the evidence of it \u2013 Jagdeo The Public Infrastructure Ministry under the helm of Minister David Patterson, is accused of deliberately tampering with the procurement process in order to ensure contracts are handed out to favoured contractors. Former President Bharrat Jagdeo on\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\/2017\/11\/Architecture-construction-works-David-McBee-Pexels-e1666942806480.jpeg?fit=1024%2C577&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Architecture-construction-works-David-McBee-Pexels-e1666942806480.jpeg?fit=1024%2C577&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Architecture-construction-works-David-McBee-Pexels-e1666942806480.jpeg?fit=1024%2C577&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Architecture-construction-works-David-McBee-Pexels-e1666942806480.jpeg?fit=1024%2C577&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3581","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\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3581"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4089,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3581\/revisions\/4089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}