Sole Sourced or Open Tender? Questions surface over contract awarded to ExxonMobil’s employee
In February, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, had announced that Oil Consultant, Dr. Michael Warner, was hired for $22M to complete Guyana’s draft Local Content Policy.
But several concerns were subsequently raised since Dr. Warner is also an employee of DAI, the contractor engaged by ExxonMobil to manage the Local Content Centre for Development located on South Road, Georgetown.
There, the official provides training on how local businesses can fit themselves into the supply chain.
Kaieteur News learnt that there are other local content experts who have no current attachment to an oil company and are not on an oil firm’s payroll but were not approached about the tender.
In light of this, questions are being raised on whether Dr. Warner was sole-sourced for the project. If he was not, and there was an open tender, who were the other individuals who sent in applications.
Transparency advocates also want the Government to say when the tender for this project was made available, since the Ministry of the Presidency’s website has no such information about the contract nor does the Procurement Plan for the World Bank funded capacity development programme, which is managed by the Department of Energy.
At the Ministry of the Presidency, yesterday, Director General Joseph Harmon, was asked to provide answers to the aforementioned questions since he is responsible for helping President, David Granger manage the Energy Department.
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Image: Cytonn Photography (Pexels)