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$100M purchase of 50 radio sets…Items cost $300,000 each, but GECOM paid seven times more
As state auditors continue to probe the purchase of 50 communication radios last year by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), there are serious concerns about the high acquisition costs.
The entity bought the radios shortly before the May 11th General and Regional Elections to help with communications between staffers in far-flung areas on Elections Day. However, from all indications the radios were never put into use, raising questions about GECOM’s hurry to order them in the first place.
An investigation has been launched by the Office of the Auditor General to determine whether procurement procedures were followed, and to verify reports whether the equipment is working and was operational when purchased.
According to officials close to the investigation, GECOM ordered 50 HF radios and paid Mobile Authority, a Water Street company, $99,560,000 last year.
Suppliers were under the impression that GECOM wanted Barrett HF radios which go for about $2 million apiece. Some of the newer Barrett models have the capability of sending emails, faxes and voice calls.
However, what GECOM received from Mobile Authority were 20 Barrett radios, said to be the older models, and 30 ICOM radios, which sell at local suppliers for just over $300,000 each.
Assuming that each of the 20 Barrett radios supplied were over $2M apiece, it meant that GECOM doled out at least $1.7M more for those ICOMs radios – a profit of over 600 percent for the supplier.
Mobile Authority is owned by Water Street business, Mike Brasse.
Brasse, according to records, also owns another company – M Tech Business Solutions – which has supplied GECOM with millions of dollars in other items, including scanners.
The revelations would shine the spotlight on GECOM’s procurement practices.
If it is indeed true that the 20 Barrett radios supplied were of a model that were discontinued by the manufacturer, GECOM’s officials could find themselves in deeper hot water over the availability of spare parts and even warranties.
Reportedly, auditors checking GECOM’s Coldingen bond found the radios in poor condition, with some still in boxes.
On Friday, Auditor General Deodat Sharma confirmed that indeed a team of auditors from his office have been probing the purchases of communication equipment.
The probe was launched after the Audit Office reportedly noticed a number of issues with the transactions. The Auditor General had declined to go into details.
GECOM’s Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally, was not immediately available for a comment yesterday.
A list of questions was sent to GECOM’s public relations department, but there was no response.
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Good move, I commend the administration for taking such a bold move to rein in GECOM, because for obvious reasons GECOM was acting as though it was the highest authority of the land, by openly acting in defiance to the PPP/C administration request in addressing matters of great concern leading up to the 2015 election, something that is very unprecedented in Guyana’s political history, yes, it should be an independent body, yet it seems to have been under some other form of control. and every effort should be made to unearth the hidden agendas of GECOM leading up to the 2015 election.