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GPL did not follow tender procedures in $28M cable purchase

Dec 11, 2009 News

Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) says that it is reviewing what went wrong in August when normal tender procedures were not followed for the purchase of $28M worth of electrical copper cables.
A letter sent recently to Kaieteur News from a GPL employee (name given), had accused the entity of bypassing internal procedures with the purchase. On August 25, 2009, the letter claimed, the company tendered for a supply of electrical cables and five companies submitted bids ranging from the highest at $34.8M to the lowest at $24.6M.
According to the leaked documents submitted by the staff member, Ram Kanhai’s quotation was $34.8M; B. Kanhai $26.36M; Prem’s Electrical $32.48M; S&L Electrical $27.68M and Gafson Industries $24.66M.
“Lo and behold, the tender was awarded to the highest bidder. The real surprise is that the very company was accused of receiving stolen materials from GPL. The other companies that tendered are well-established companies,” the letter said.
Kaieteur News sent to GPL management a copy of the letter and a list of the other companies which had tendered, along with the amounts that were tendered.
But an internal memorandum, released to Kaieteur News yesterday, rejected the contention in the letter sent by the employee.
On August 18, 2009, the Metering Department raised an RFP (Request For Purchase) for the purchase of copper wires, the memorandum said.
GPL had run out of stock, resulting in a meter installation/replacement backlog. The RFP was approved by the Finance Director (name given) and authorized by the Chief Executive Officer on August 19, according to the memorandum.
The memo, written by a senior GPL official, said that given the urgency of the copper wires, six known local suppliers were contacted on August 20, 2009 (and not August 25, 2009) by fax, requesting quotations.
Five suppliers responded via faxed quotations with Prem’s Electrical $27,999,718; Gafsons $28,606,018; Guyana Electrical Services $29,212,318; Kanhai’s Electrical    $37,399,699 and
S&L Electrical with $53,764,677 being the bids.
Prem’s Electrical was selected since that company had the lowest bid, the memo said.
The memo, which was prepared by the Procurement and Inventory Accounting Manager (ag.) said that the letter addressed to Kaieteur News had incorrect information.
“First, the quotations were requested on the 20th August 2009 and not the 25th August 2009; second, the quoted prices in the letter are different from what was obtained…”
Speaking with Kaieteur News on Wednesday, GPL Chairman, Winston Brassington, said that based on his requests for more information on the cable purchase. “We are further reviewing the matter internally as normal tender procedures were not followed.”

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