Latest update April 17th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 13, 2014 News
Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma, in September 2012, announced that he was finalizing a report on some of the
most controversial government contracts which his department was investigating. But two years later, the Parliament is still to receive this report.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Carl Greenidge, said that the Auditor General should not have taken two years to complete that process. The politician said that the matter should have been dealt with expeditiously and as such, at its next committee meeting, he will be asked to provide an update on what has become of the report and why there was a delay.
Sharma had said that he was looking into the controversial projects of his own volition as he is responsible for auditing all public projects.
These include the Amaila Falls road project and the Hope Canal on East Coast Demerara. He had also noted that his department was finalizing a report on drug supply contracts and that it would be laid in the National Assembly soon.
A check of the Parliament library for the report revealed that there was no such report in their archives.
Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, also said that to the best of his knowledge, the Parliament had not received that report as yet.
The Audit Office was also contacted to ascertain the whether the report was completed but a female employee said that the Auditor General was in a meeting and that the report was not finalized. Calls to Sharma even up to late yesterday afternoon proved futile.
As it relates specifically to the procurement of drugs, the political opposition has said on several occasions that Government had not adhered to the rules of sole sourcing. The single source method is in Section 28 of the Procurement Act 2003.
It says that for single sourcing to take place, it must be a case where the goods are available only from a particular supplier or contractor, or a particular supplier or contractor has exclusive rights with respect to the goods and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists.
As in the case of the procurement of drugs, the opposition had said that the pre qualification requirements were changed to such an “unreasonable” extent that it forces only one person or company to qualify for the supply of pharmaceuticals. That company is the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (New GPC), owned by former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s best friend, Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop.
Under the revised criteria for the pre-qualification of suppliers of drugs and medical supplies, the bidders must demonstrate a gross turnover of $1B (US$5M) and net assets of $500M (US$2.5M).
One of the Ministry’s criteria is that maximum score will be awarded to applicants who have paid $50M in corporate taxes annually.
The company with 50 or more employees, and warehousing capacity of 30,000 square feet in the city, will also gain an edge.
New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (GPC) is the only supplier, locally, with its own bond of that size.
According to the revised prequalification criteria, maximum points will also be awarded in the evaluation process to the applicants who have been supplying Government for more than seven years without any negative reports.
A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU), Shadow Minister of Health, Dr George Norton, said that potential distributors are at an absolute disadvantage due to the government practice of overlooking the bidding process.
Even the Auditor General report in several instances focused on multi-million-dollar deficiencies in the procurement and supply of products from the New GPC.
Dr Norton said that contrary to Government’s belief, the New GPC does not have the capacity to supply the quality and quantity of medications countrywide.
Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon had said that the timeframe for which bidders who were pre-qualified to supply drugs to the Ministry of Health, has expired but Government is still to complete evaluation of potential new suppliers.
He added that all new contracts would have to await the results of the current process of vetting suppliers to be prequalified.
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
Apr 17, 2024
2024 CWI Regional 4-Day Championships Round 7…GHE vs. CCC Kaieteur Sports – After a highly-successful round 6, Guyana Harpy Eagles will look to take full advantage of the out-of-sorts...Kaieteur News – Every school teacher should take a close look at the students in his or her classroom. The probability... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]