Govt. blocks $28M contract to Region 8 RDC engineer

Oct 07, 2024 News

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…told to decide whether he wants to be an employee or contractor

Kaieteur News- A government engineer based in Region Eight was told to decide whether he wants to be an employee of the State or work as a private contractor after he recently won a $28M project through the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).  The contract was subsequently blocked by the government.

While responding to a Stabroek News editorial last week at his newspaper, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed the issue. He said there are complaints that persons may be influenced or they may be violating procurement laws because of instructions they receive or they may even lack awareness of the law and what it has provisions in place for.

However, he said the current administration has embarked on a campaign to fix all of this and they have made it clear that non-adherence to the law will not be tolerated at a political level. “So people know now that they are responsible for compliance with the procurement laws and that they will bear the consequences should we find breach. We have already seen that from the time we spoke on one visit to Region Eight last week, we got a number of things,” he said.

Giving an example of one such situation where the laws were breached, he told reporters that, “One engineer there in the region…so he is based in Mahdia and then put in a bid through the public process, an open bidding process but through NPTAB and got a contract for $28M because they just looked at whoever had the best bid, but this guy is also the regional engineer.” The engineer however did not submit his bid through the regional system, instead he submitted via an open public tender, and received the bid to do work in Mahdia.

“Now if you’re an engineer and you’re based in Mahdia working for the RDC and you’re the contractor for a project in Mahdia, people wouldn’t care if it’s NPTAB that gave that and you participated in an open bid, this is the kind of conflict I spoke of,” Jagdeo stressed.

The VP is of the opinion that as an employee of the government, you cannot also be a contractor for government project as well, hence the engineer will have to make a choice which path to follow as he cannot assume both roles. Additionally, a number of other issues were exposed to the officials during the outreach and the government is working to address them, Jagdeo said.  “People are now bringing this to our attention, we didn’t know the NPTAB didn’t know I asked them, they said we don’t know this guy is the regional engineer, he bid through an open process. They did not know. Once this comes to our attention, people have to make a determination,” the VP said.

Amendments to procurement laws

Meanwhile opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Ganesh Mahipaul last week reiterated calls for amendments to the Procurement Act of 2003, arguing that it “is long overdue for critical amendments if we are to combat the rampant favoritism and corruption plaguing the system today.”  Mahipaul said Jagdeo’s voice has no weight if it is not accompanied by concrete action. “The time for promises is over. Decisive steps must be taken to ensure greater transparency and accountability in the procurement process,” the MP stated.

Mahipaul is of the opinion that evaluators are secretly selected and they are often handpicked from political allies of the government who are then disguised as public servants.  He emphasised that “This system of hidden appointments erodes trust and fosters corruption. Even more troubling is the composition of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), which is entirely made up of individuals appointed by the PPP/C regime. Without representation from other political entities, the procurement process is inherently flawed and biased, perpetuating an atmosphere of distrust and corruption.”

Mahipaul advised that in order for faith to be restored in the procurement system the Procurement Act must be amended to include opposition representatives “at both the Evaluation Committee and Tender Board levels. Broader representation is essential to ensuring decisions are based on merit rather than political connections. Only by making these necessary changes can we build the transparency and accountability that the procurement process so desperately lacks.”

He then went on to say that under an APNU/AFC government within the first 100 days in office, they will move to amend the act to allow for a wider representation where the opposition will be included at every level of the procurement process. This would prevent the high levels of corruption as well as build the trust, accountability, and transparency that our nation deserves. “The time for reform is now. Without these amendments, the procurement process will remain compromised by favoritism, and the necessary trust between the government and the people will continue to erode. Action not rhetoric is the only solution,” he said.

 

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• Contract, Engineer, Jagdeo, Mahdia, Mahipaul, National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), NPTAB, Opposition Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul, Procurement Act, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

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