The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) is operating with only six board members, instead of the required seven, and filling the vacancy has been unsuccessful, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon said at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing.
He was at the time responding to a query about the composition of the NPTAB, which is responsible for awarding multi-million-dollar Government contracts.
The Minister of Finance is responsible for appointing all seven members of the NPTAB – not more than five persons from the public service and not more than three from the private sector – after consultation with their respective organizations.
According to Dr. Luncheon, since the departure of one of the private sector nominees, the seven-member board was reduced to six.
“I am aware that six members do not prevent a quorum from being established….I cannot say what efforts have been made (to appoint a new member)…I must admit because the situation persists, as far as I know, filling that one vacancy continues to be unsuccessful, but six of the seven-member board is in place,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Cabinet gave its no-objection to the award of several contracts that were approved by the NPTAB. They are as follows:
Sectors
Project
Contract Value
Min. of Housing and Water
Infrastructural Development at Prosperity, E.B.D
$80.07M
Min. of Housing and Water
Infrastructural Development at Little Diamond and Great Diamond, E.B.D in two Lots
$827.6M
Min. of Housing and Water
Infrastructural Development in Lust-en-Rust
$202.9M
Min. of Housing and Water
Upgrading of roads in Region Four
$596.8M
Ministry of Local Govt. and Regional Development
Rehabilitation of sections of Burma Branch Road
$19.5M
Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development
Rehabilitation of the Regional Integrated Office, Guyana Revenue Authority Building which was destroyed by fire on July 18, 2012 in Linden