Govt to release contract on Specialty Hospital

Dec 03, 2015 News

In an effort to further justify its selection of a certain Indian company to complete the Specialty Hospital, Government announced that it will be making public, the contractual documents in relation to the project.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, during a post Cabinet press briefing, yesterday, was asked to say why government went ahead with Fedders Lloyd for the contract, given that Fedders Lloyd was disqualified by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) when the contract first went out for tender in 2012.
He said, however, that he felt that the issue was one that has been adequately dealt with by Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan.
“I think what we will do in some short period of time, is to publish some of the contractual arrangements for the Specialty Hospital. You would recall that our objection to the Specialty Hospital has always been about transparency.
It has always been about how things were being done about it and therefore, what has happened now is that we are now getting access to some of these documents.”
He continued, “You will find in the document that there is a provision for if one of the contractors has been found for some reason or the other to be involved in either fraud, or anything of that nature, the government can move to the next person or any other company.”
On that basis, Harmon argued that Government’s decision is in keeping with the law.
On the matter of Fedders Lloyd being disqualified in the initial tendering process, Harmon said that he is willing to be enlightened on that matter from the media.
It was then explained to him that one of the reasons for which the Indian Company was disqualified by NPTAB was due to the fact that it submitted two prices. He was then asked how in such an instance, government can still go ahead with the company.
Putting on his legal cap, the Minister of State said, “What I understand they (Fedders Lloyd) did, was to offer a sum and then a discount. I think what the Tender Board might have said was that the discount was not lawful. But in the contract, that is what is anticipated. We will make that agreement public.”
But asked if he will make the evaluation report which speaks specifically to why Fedders Lloyd was disqualified public, Harmon said he could not say at that time.
He said that the Finance Minister, under whose portfolio that falls, will probably deal with that soon.
Last week, the government announced that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will see works restarting on the construction of the Specialty Hospital was signed between Jordan and Fedders Lloyd Country Representative, Ajay Jha.
According to the Finance Ministry, Fedders Lloyd will review the works already started, conclude a design of the Hospital that is acceptable to the coalition government and commit to fully equip the facility on completion of its construction.
The company has also undertaken to commence work on the facility immediately.
When the project was first tendered in 2012, Fedders Lloyd had submitted a bid which did not make the cut as Surendra Engineering Inc. was given the upper hand in the deal.
This is in spite of the fact that Fedders Lloyd’s bid was lower and it had experience in constructing hospitals across the world unlike the winner of the contract. Surendra is a mere spare parts fabricator for sugar mills across India.
But Surendra turned out to be an embarrassment for the previous administration as it ended up running off with millions of dollars in advance payment for the project and government, despite a court ruling in its favour, is yet to recover the monies lost.
The APNU+AFC government, on accession to office, reviewed the project and concluded that since there was no existing contract that could be enforced, it was impractical to continue to keep the Line of Credit (LOC) in its existing form, especially since it was attracting commitment fees.
Government therefore requested EXIM Bank of India to cancel the LOC for the Specialty Hospital and to re-allocate the balance of funds to a project to modernize three Primary Healthcare Facilities.
However, the Government of India in its response, while indicating its no objection and support for the modernization of Primary Health Care Facilities, suggested that the Granger administration consider salvaging the Specialty Hospital, as it will complement Primary Health Care facilities in Guyana.
The Specialty Hospital is intended to cater for high end surgeries and other health care demands.
The administration examined the merits of the proposal and began searching for a willing partner to complete the Specialty Hospital using the remainder of the LOC.
In the interest of time, Government said that it approached Fedders Lloyd to explore the possibility of the company completing the project.
When it lost the bid in 2012, Fedders Lloyd had protested against what it deemed to be a corrupt procurement process under the previous administration. Representing him at the time was Attorney at Law, Khemraj Ramjattan, who is now the Minister of Public Security.
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, at his most recent press conference, roasted the Granger led administration for not going to tender for the project. He said that the manner in which it was pursued reeks of massive corruption. (Kiana Wilburg)