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US$18M specialty hospital…India will not interfere in award of contract – High Commissioner
The Indian government will not interfere with Guyana’s awarding of the US$18M specialty hospital contract to Surendra Engineering Corporation Limited.
Responding to questions yesterday whether his government was considering revisiting the contract, High Commissioner to Guyana,
India’s High Commissioner to Guyana, Puran Mal Meena
Puran Mal Meena, said that it is a matter entirely up to the Government of Guyana to decide who will be the contractor.
He made it clear what India’s role is.
“India has provided financial assistance to construct that hospital, to equip, but not to interfere in the internal process of the country. We are sure that they will utilise the money in the right way.”
According to the envoy, his government will abide by any decisions of the government.
“We are not part of the National Procurement (and Tender Administration) Board, our job is to monitor the progress of the projects which are funded by the government of India… If the project is for 12 months, if it is delayed, why is it delayed?”
Meena also told reporters that any companies can object to the bidding process to Exim Bank of India which is funding the project. There are some safeguards in place including the contract agreement between the local Ministry of Health and the contractor.
Under the line of credit, the contract for the specialty hospital, earmarked for Turkeyen, has to be granted to an Indian construction firm. This was done last month, to Surendra Engineering.
However, another Indian company, Fedders Lloyd Corporation Limited, had protested, insisting that several things were wrong in the decision to grant Surendra Engineering the contract.
The Ministry of Health, in responding to Fedders Lloyd, said that it breached no laws in awarding the hospital contract to Surendra. It stated that Fedders Lloyd had breached instructions that were given to bidders.
Fedders Lloyd, which submitted one of the lowest bids for the project, had expressed its concerns via a letter to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, dated August 30th 2012.
The Ministry’s letter was released to the media a day after Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger announced that Government would be re-assessing the award of the US$18M contract to Surendra Engineering
In its letter of response, the Ministry of Health said that it “has diligently pursued the process of tendering and awarding the contract to design, build and equip the Specialty Hospital for Guyana with due diligence and full transparency, adhering throughout the process to good, sound and proper policies and procedures.”
“It is obvious to the Ministry that in such an open and competitive process that attracted five bids from reputable Indian firms, only one firm will be successful.”
Government intends to staff the hospital with specialists from India to do complicated surgeries, ranging from heart operations and organ transplants to cosmetic surgery.
Fedders Lloyd had asserted that Surendra Engineering should have been disqualified as a bidder. “As per the bid opening readouts, we noticed that the Bank Guarantee submitted by Surendra Engineering was on the Indian bank letterhead and it was never confirmed by any local bank in Guyana… This outrightly disqualifies Surendra Engineering and makes them a non-responsive bidder in the first place.”
Fedders Lloyd had signaled its intentions to write Exim Bank of India.
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