THE SALE OF THE BUILDING IN DUKE STREET

Nov 17, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Controversy has once again raised its head in relation to the sale of a building on Duke Street, Kingston, in which is located the Office of Empowerment. The government had put the building up for sale and had received bids which were evaluated and ranked.

It had awarded the building to the highest bidder who we were told, subsequently declined the offer. As such, we are told that a new award will have to be made but that there is no automatic right of the second highest bidder to be sold the property.

This is surprising because even though it may have been clearly indicated in the bid documents that the government is not bound by the highest bidder, the government did in fact make the initial award to the highest bidder thereby creating an expectation that should the highest bidder not accept the award that the second highest bidder would be next in line.

We are now told that the government is not necessarily bound to follow this path since it was clearly stated in the bidding documents that the government was not bound by the highest bid. Again, however, the question arises that if it was not so bound, if the government had to consider what was in the national interest such as the proposed usage of the building, why then in the first place did the government award the building to the highest bidder?

We are further told that there is precedent to support the award to someone else other than the highest bidder. The precedent we are told of is the sale of Herdmanston House which was purportedly sold to the second highest bidder because of developmental considerations since the second highest bidder had a going concern in the adjoining lot and thus it was deemed best to award him the sale.

A precedent does exist for an award to be made to someone other than the highest bidder.

In the instance of the sale of the building in Duke Street, this precedent was not applied since the initial award was made to the highest bidder and not to the second or third highest bidder. If it was not applied in the initial evaluation, it should not be applied now that the highest bidder has withdrawn.

In the procurement of goods, the Procurement Act requires that awards be made to the lowest evaluated bids. Thus the government in procurement seeks the lowest price. One would expect that the reverse would be true in relation to the sale of government property which is not an ongoing enterprise or corporation.

If the government is simply selling a building, one would expect that it would seek the highest price. This is what one may deduce from the initial offer to the highest bidder in relation to the sale of the building on Duke Street which is now at the centre of controversy.

Mind you, the government has every right to examine the issue of future uses of a building before it is sold. And it has every right to factor this aspect into its decision making. However, in the interest of transparency, it would have been best if in the invitation for bids, the government had specified that it would give weight to usage of the building. It may have done this.

I call on NICIL and the Privatization Unit to reveal whether in the invitations for bids they did specify that this aspect would have been a key consideration in the evaluation of the bids. It is only fair to all bidders that they know before bidding that future usage of the building would be considered in the evaluation process.

What is paramount in this issue is transparency. All bidders are entitled to be treated fairly.

If the initial consideration in evaluating the bids was based on price and price alone, then the rules cannot be altered now to bring in other considerations. It would not be fair to do this.

This is why NICIL and the Privatization Unit should explain whether in the bid documents it made it clear that price alone was not the only variable, whether also it did specify in those documents that it would give weight to other specified considerations.

Latest News

THE SALE OF THE BUILDING IN DUKE STREET

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

The wait is over, all roads lead to KMTC for their Grand Boxing Day...

Xhiya Hercules – flipping the script towards...

Road Warriors, Bent Street, Team Cruel &...

Deol maiden hundred outshines Matthews’ as...

Moraikobai village two days football competition...

BCB thanks cricket fraternity for strong support...

Features/Columnists

Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals!

Breaking the Chains of Poverty: A need for political will

Christmas – reality and possibility

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

THE SALE OF THE BUILDING IN DUKE STREET

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]