Finance Minister defends MOU with Fedders Lloyd

Nov 29, 2015 News

Finance Minister Winston Jordan has finally decided to respond to mounting criticisms on his recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Fedders Lloyd to complete the Specialty Hospital.

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

The Ministry of Finance stated, yesterday, that its recently signed MOU with Fedders Lloyd is consistent with the proper procurement practices.
The Ministry of Finance quoted the Procurement Act Chapter 42:05 to support its position.
“If the supplier or contractor whose tender has been accepted fails to sign a written contract, if required to do so, or fails to provide any required security for the performance of the contract, the appropriate board shall refer the matter to the Evaluation Committee to determine which of the remaining tenders is the second lowest evaluated tender based on the evaluation criteria outlined in the bid documents subject to its right, in accordance with section 40(1), to reject all remaining tenders.”
The Ministry noted that in the Public bidding done for the Specialty Hospital under the former PPP/C government, four tenders were received. Two were deemed to be rejected, leaving the remaining two – Surendra Engineering and Fedders Lloyd Ltd. – in contention.
In spite of the protestations of Fedders Lloyd, the Ministry said that the then PPP/C government selected Surendra Engineering, leaving Fedders Lloyd as the second and only other bidder for the project.
The Finance Ministry said that Surendra’s services were eventually terminated by the previous government. Therefore, in accordance with Section 42(5) of the Procurement Act, it said that the government can proceed to the second bidder.
The Ministry also emphasized that it did not award a contract to Fedders Lloyd; the Ministry merely entered into a MOU with the second bidding company and, indeed, the only other qualified bidder.
It said, “The advantages of proceeding in this manner, rather than going out for a new tender are many, including the fact that Fedders Lloyd expressed in the MOU its intention to hold its prices expressed in its original bid made some four years ago. In addition to being time consuming, a new tender will result, obviously, in price escalation due to inflation.”
The Finance Ministry noted that Fedders Lloyd intends to examine works already done by the previous contractor and to integrate those works within its proposed current design options, so as to lessen the burden of loss of funds already spent.
Fedders Lloyd it said intends to complete the designs and finalize the list of equipment (which was not completed by the previous contractor) to the satisfaction of the Ministry of Public Health.
The Indian Company also intends to hold the overall cost of the project within the available balance of the Line of Credit from Exim Bank of India.
Kaieteur News understands that it is the intention of the Ministry of Finance that should the conditions in the MOU be satisfied by Fedders Lloyd, then the Tender Board will be invited to make an award of contract to Fedders Lloyd.
The Ministry said that procedurally, therefore, there is no impropriety in the method used by government in entering the MOU with Fedders Lloyd with the intention of leading to an award should the conditions stipulated in the MOU be met by Fedders Lloyd.
It said that the decision to utilize the instrument of the MOU safeguards the procurement process and seeks to optimize the use of Public Funds, in this case a loan, in the most beneficial way.