AG criticises Tender Board for $1.3 B allocation to New GPC

Feb 12, 2012 News

…cites gross irregularities

Accusing fingers are being pointed to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board for approving the payment of an exorbitant sum to the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited.
According to the 2010 Auditor General Report the astronomical sum of $1.252 billion was paid to the company on the basis of sole sourcing and not by competitive bidding as required under the Procurement Act (2003).
The transactions with the firm, the Report outlines, were for the procurement of drugs and medical supplies.
This practice was also extended to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). The public hospital, the Report stated, also procured drugs and medical supplies at a cost of $879.914M based on awards of contracts by the Tender Board without a system of competitive bidding as required under the said Procurement Act.
The Ministry of Education’s procurement of school textbooks also came under fire in the Report which discloses that a sum of $70M was paid to a supplier on the basis of sole sourcing and again approved by the Tender Board without the requisite competitive bidding.
The facts detailed in the Report also point to irregularity relating to payment of pension and gratuity in the office of the Accountant General. A total of 84 fraudulent transactions for arrears pensions and gratuity payments to the value of $206.379M were made to inactive, deceased and fictitious pensioners. This development had in fact led to five persons being charged by the Police.
In contravention of Article 212(W) of the Constitution, a Public Procurement Commission to monitor public procurement and the procedures had not been appointed, the Report points out. As a consequence of the Commission not being established and in accordance with the Act, the National Board had the responsibility for the making of regulations governing the procurement of goods and services, determining the forms and documents for procurement and reporting to the Minister of Finance on the effectiveness of the procurement system, while organizing training seminars regarding procurement and adjudicating debarment proceedings, the Report adds.
Meanwhile, other specific findings detailed in the Report is that despite Guyana Stores Limited was sold in October 2000 at a price of US$6M only a sum of $4M was received from the purchaser. It was pointed out that the remaining US$2M should have been paid in September 2002 but has remained outstanding since that time.
A similar situation the Report notes also existed in relation to the privatisation of the National Paints Company where US$900,000 was still outstanding on the purchase price.

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