Billions in projects awarded by Gov't

Billions in projects awarded by Gov’t

Jun 25, 2020 News

From March 3 to June 22…

Between March 3 to June 22, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) awarded over $2B in contracts for just over 45 governmental projects, according to information gleaned from NPTAB’s website on contracts awarded during that period.

NPTAB Chairman, Berkley Wickham

The $1B contract to retrofit the Ocean View Hotel on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD); the $352M awarded to BK International Incorporated to construct rip rap sea defenses in Mahaicony, Region Five; the 130 acres of prime land which is also situated on the ECD, and which have carried a price tag of millions of dollars, are just some of the big-money projects that have been awarded by the tender administration board since March 2, the date of the Guyana’s General and Regional Elections.
Other contracts, which are smaller when compared to the enormous contracts listed above, include $107M awarded to General Engineering Supplies for operations and security of National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) mobile and fixed pumps within Regions Two, Three and Four; $84M awarded to Ramapign Wilson Construction for the remodeling and rehabilitation of two police stations, one in Wismar, Region 10 and the other in Mahdia, Region Eight; and $60M awarded to Memorex Enterprise for operation, servicing and monitoring of heavy-duty equipment under the NDIA.
These contracts listed are just three of some 43+ contracts, which carry a price tag of $838M in total, as NPTAB data shows.
The award of such contracts in a post-election environment is problematic, as Section 54 of the Procurement Act of Guyana specifically states that, “The Cabinet shall have the right to review all procurements the value of which exceeds fifteen million Guyana dollars. The Cabinet shall conduct its review on the basis of a streamlined tender evaluation report to be adopted by the authority mentioned in Section 17 (2).”
The Act went on to state that, “The Cabinet and, upon its establishment, the Public Procurement Commission, shall review annually the Cabinet’s threshold for review of procurements, with the objective of increasing that threshold over time so as to promote the goal of progressively phasing out Cabinet involvement and decentralizing the procurement process.”
By taking into consideration that the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) dissolved Parliament in December of last year, thereby resulting in the fall of Cabinet, it leaves questions regarding which constitutional body the government received approval from to award contracts such as the $1B renovations to the Ocean View Hotel, the $352M sea defence project, as well as the contract to market Guyana’s portion of oil.
Even as the Procurement Board had announced that it had raised the threshold for ministries and State agencies for goods and services to $10M, while the limits for construction contracts would be $15M, these projects go way above that threshold.
Notably, two days ago when Kaieteur News visited NPTAB’s website in search of projects that were opened and awarded during the post- election period, it found that some of the contracts were restricted from public viewership and some sections of the page, specifically the page to view ‘Tenders awarded’, were outdated, as the last update was made on 2016. This publication subsequently highlighted the concerns it found on the site.
Yesterday morning, however, it was discovered that not only did NPTAB grant access to the previously hidden documents, but they had also updated their lists of awarded contracts.