With works still substantially incomplete…Ocean View ‘Retro Fitting’ Contractors paid $650M out of $1 Billion project

Jun 22, 2020 News

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By Shikema Dey

Seven contractors sole sourced by the Public Health Ministry to complete the ‘retro fitting’ or furnishing of the Ocean View COVID-19 Hospital have reportedly been paid roughly 65% of the US$5Million (G$1B) sum despite, a substantial amount of work still left incomplete.

Sources close to this project have revealed to Kaieteur News that the contractors were paid sums amounting to more than $600M last Thursday.
Kaieteur News is in receipt of the Memorandum to the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, from the Permanent Secretary of the Public Health Ministry, Collette Adams in correspondence to the Chairman of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Berkley Wickham seeking approval to ‘single source’ bidders for the conversion of the old Ocean View International Hotel into a state-of-the-art Hospital for the incubation, isolation and quarantine of persons infected with the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) along with the documents from the Finance Ministry giving approval.
Single sourcing is spelled out in the Procurement Act 2003, Section 28. An excerpt from that section says “The procuring entity may engage in single-source procurement when – (a) the goods or construction are available only from a particular supplier or contractor, or a particular supplier or contractor has exclusive rights with respect to the goods or construction, and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists; (b) the services, by reason of their highly complex or specialized nature, are available from only one source; (c) owing to a catastrophic event, there is an urgent need for the goods, services or construction, making it impractical to use other methods of procurement because of the time involved in using those methods.”
On the Memorandum, the works were separated into eight lots:
‘Lot 1’, the “Remodeling of the Main Wing, Installation of Medical Gas, HV AC – negative pressure system, Construction of Operating Theatre, Construction of R.C. Ramps and Laundry Room and Rehabilitation of Main Plumbing System and Distribution Networks” was awarded to International Imports & Supplies at $381M ($381,825,605).
‘Lot 2’, the “Remodeling of East Wing, Rehab of Roof, Construction of Power Supply Room, Construction of gate on the ground floor, Installation of New Electrical Mains, Perimeter lighting and Automatic Gate” was awarded to Ivor Allen at $388M ($388,402,665).
‘Lot 3’, the “Installation of Lift” was awarded to KP Thomas & Sons Contracting Inc at $49M ($49,201,944).
‘Lot 4’, the “Construction of Southern Concrete Fence, Timber Revetment, Construction of R.C. Base for Triage Area and Holding Area for Infectious Waste” was awarded to James Nicholson Construction Services at $54M ($54,761,525).
‘Lot 5’, the “Construction of Northern Fence Concrete Fence, Timber Revetment, Construction of R.C. Base for Morgue and Concrete Walkways for projects for the MOPH” was awarded to Associated Construction Services at $64M ($64,728,615).
‘Lot 6’, the “Construction of one (1) incinerator for sharps and medical waste” was awarded to Andy Moore at $4.1M ($4.1,000,000).
‘Lot 7’, the “Supply, Installation and Commissioning of HV AC Systems” was awarded to Antartic Maintenance & Repairs at $22M ($22,074,712).
The final ‘Lot 8’, the “Supply, Installation and Commissioning of CCTV Surveillance System” went to International Imports & Supplies for $86M (86,232,939).
Additionally, the Memorandum stated that “Funds have been provided by the Government of Guyana for the project named at caption.”
While no date was listed on the Memorandum indicating when the request was made, the approval was given on April, 16, 2020 by Chairman of NPTAB, Berkley Wickham – his signature was attached to the document.
On that document, it stated “As per the Procurement Act of 2003 Chapter 73:05, Section 11(1), details of the Contract Award should be forwarded to the National Procurement and Tender Administration immediately so as to facilitate publishing on its website www.npta.gov.gy within (5) days of the signing.”
However, a quick search of the NPTAB website, under ‘Tender Awards’, turned up no results for this contract. The only recent contract for the Public Health Ministry was in 2017 for the Renewal of International Gold software Support License for Total Maintenance Association (TMA) Software Programme and Training. That contract was awarded to Delta Dymanics Ltd. for US$30,294.
Kaieteur News also received copy of the estimate provided by the Engineers for each Lot alluded to in the Memorandum. However, those figures slightly differ from the ones approved by NPTAB. In some cases, the approved bids were higher than the estimate provided while others were lower.
The table enclosed in the story gives a breakdown of how much was saved and lost. (figure 1.)
Concerns have been raised about the long term justification for the use of the hotel and the arrangements that government has entered with the owners.
In recent years, spring tides have been causing overtopping causing flooding to areas nearby. Due to the hotel’s close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, back in 2013, the facility took a hit after high tides resulted in significant damage amounting to millions.
Government acted on a suggestion for a specialty health facility after taking into consideration that the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) projects that by early May, Guyana will be dealing with 20,000 cases of COVID-19.

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