Tabatinga approach, playgrounds upgrade among $98M in contracts signed

Jul 13, 2017 News

Some of the contractors yesterday with Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan

The Ministry of Communities on Wednesday signed seven contract awards under the Community Infrastructural Improvement Project (CIIP) which fell in the categories of rehabilitation and construction of community facilities.
The signing was done in the boardroom of the Ministry’s Fort Street, Kingston office. The Ministry received the green-light for award of five of the re-tendered projects and two green spaces.
During the process, three contractors who have never worked on projects for the Ministry of Communities were given an opportunity to bid.
The process, according to the ministry, also resulted in more responsive bids and satisfied contractors who felt that they were given a fair chance to participate in the government procurement system.
In May 2017, the Ministry invited several small contractors to discuss their mis-steps in the tendering process after most of the previous bidders were found to be non-responsive.
The contractors were among those who bid for nine projects in February 2017; seven of which were non-responsive.
The group had met with Permanent Secretary, Emil McGarrell and Procurement Manager, Michael Blackman.
The PS had urged the contractors to build their capacity to perform not only small contracts but much larger ones. However, he noted that the work must be of a very high standard and must be done accurately.
The PS further implored the contractors to set their own standards and core values that would guide their company during the tendering process.
According to McGarrell, all of the tenders had failed due to simple administrative lapses such as failure to include the business registration etc.
“We put out a tender for which you responded, but unfortunately everybody failed to meet the criteria. This is for the administrative aspect and not the technical aspect,” McGarrell said.
In addition, some of the contractors failed to submit a valid registration, National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) compliance while others did not complete the tender documents or failed to attach a signature to the bid declaration form.
Other tenders were deemed non-responsive due to a failure to indicate whether they were engaged in litigation, whether they are involved in ongoing projects and for failing to provide a list of equipment.
The ministry later re-tendered the seven projects and the contractors were allowed to resubmit after bringing them up to speed with the procurement process and its guidelines.
The PS stressed that there was no question as to the technical capabilities of the contractors but all the hiccups were avoidable and of an administrative nature.
He explained the tender process and answered questions from all of the contractors. They were informed that the law requires the ministry to give notification of the responsiveness of each bid and they also have a right to request the reason for their lack of responsiveness.
These projects include construction of Belladrum Multi-purpose Centre, Mahaica-Berbice Region; rehabilitation of Maria-Johanna Ground, Wakenaam, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region; rehabilitation of Arthurville Ground, Wakenaam, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region; construction of a sanitary block at Hosororo Community Ground, Barima-Waini Region;
construction of the Tabatinga approach, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region; Rehabilitation of Children’s Playgrounds – Blairmont & Shieldstown; Construction of Concrete Koker at Kortberaadt East Berbice-Corentyne Region; Construction of Kumaka Marketing Centre, Mabaruma, Barima-Waini Region and upgrading of Paradise Playfield, Paradise Village, ECD, Demerara-Mahaica Region.

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