When will reports on major projects under construction be available for pick-up?

Oct 07, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
At the symposium held at the International Conference Centre on Oct. 2, Junior Finance Minister Juan Edghill delivered the feature address and highlighted the government’s concern on the matter of contract variations, which he stated could lead to double the actual contract sum. He further claimed that contractors have been deliberately submitting low bids to secure contracts and then generating variations to supplement their under-priced bids.
It is evident that Minister Edghill is not conversant with the bidding/contracting process and as to the reasons why variations/change orders are issued, since he is of the opinion that all low bids invariably lead to contract variations and hence increases in project costs.
A contractor, apart from his bidding strategy, usually submits a bid based on the tender documents – drawings, specifications and pricing on a bill of quantities (BoQ). In Guyana, the government’s policy has been to award contracts to the lowest bidders, but in transparent jurisdictions only the lowest ‘evaluated’ bidder gets the job.
Once the contract is awarded and work starts, the contractor is paid for work done based on the itemized list in the BoQ after due certification by the supervising engineer and approval by the Client (Government). Often there are discrepancies up or down between the BoQ and work being done or materials to be supplied, which may require the contractor to temporarily cease operations until a determination is made to clarify the difference, which more often than not is resolved by the issuance of a change order or variation which has to be approved and paid for by the Client (Govt.).
Therefore the Government of Guyana is fully aware as to the reasons why variations generated by the contracts it awards are made, and for Minister Edghill to claim that contractors deliberately submit low bids to secure contracts and then generate variations to get the real price for the project and to pay for kickbacks, is somewhat disingenuous.
All major civil engineering projects have variations because of poor design, unforeseen circumstances and site conditions. These variations could result in project costs exceeding the original bid by anywhere from about 5% to over 100% as the Govt. knows only too well.
It is unfortunate that in Guyana today all major Govt. contracts have large time and cost overruns because of poor design, bad construction management and ill-equipped and inexperienced contractors. To remedy the situation, the Govt. will have to pre-qualify those they employ to execute their projects, including consultants and site supervisors, to ensure that they have the qualification, experience and financial resources to undertake the work at hand. Contractors should be selected based on an evaluation of their past performance, competency, adequacy of their workforce and financial viability. They should also be bonded (not the Fip Motilall type) for failure to perform, as this will give government the leverage necessary to complete the project in case the contractor defaults.
It is indeed reassuring that Minister Edghill has at long last pronounced that the government will no longer condone skullduggery from contractors and the bidding process for all government work will be fair, free, transparent and depoliticized. He also stated that reports on projects under construction – with details on completion dates, variations, cost overruns and time extensions with causes therefor – will now be made available to all stakeholders.
It will be useful if Minister Edghill could state through this medium when these reports with respect to the Hope Canal, East Bank and East Coast highways, Amaila Falls access road and the Vreed-en-hoop Power Station projects, will be available for pick-up?
Charles Sohan

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