THE ROLE OF THE SPONSOR IN THE KATO SCHOOL FIASCO

Sep 08, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Based on information circulated in the media, the Contractor and the Supervisory Consultant are to be blamed for the Kato Secondary School Fiasco. Although this is obvious due to the responsibilities assigned via contractual agreements, it is important also to look at the role of the sponsor or the Contractual Authority, which in this case is the Government of Guyana.
The sponsor is accountable for ensuring that the work is governed effectively and delivers the objectives that meet identified needs. The key ministries involved being Education, Finance (Project Cycle Management Division) and Public Infrastructure or Works. In a project of this nature, identification of key stakeholders is critical, this is necessary for collaboration regarding sharing of information (mission of the project), perspectives and the resolution of issues that may have developed.
One of the main functions of the sponsor is benefit realization management. While the contractor is responsible for output (the physical infrastructure), the government is responsible for outcome (for example, students being relocated from multi locations to the new school) and benefits. A legitimate focus of the sponsor is therefore to ensure that the desired benefits are being tracked and the identification of potential obstacles or bottlenecks by consistently reviewing the project plan and the business case. Due to the delays, structural defects and overpayment that were identified during the construction phase, it begs the question as to what level of monitoring and control was exercised by the sponsor.
For example, possible considerations are:-
* What approach was taken by the Contracting Authority to resolve the outstanding issues such as defects that were highlighted during the construction period via progress reports from the Consultant?
* What mechanism was implemented to ensure smooth transition of output to outcome such as a risk management plan and the identification of critical success factors to avoid substantial delay?
The current status of the project is not only a reflection of the Contractor and Supervisory Consultant’s performance, but also poor governance exercised by the Contracting Authority – the Government of Guyana.
Collin Lord

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