$74M added to $278M bid was for additional works- Public Infrastructure

Jun 27, 2020 News

BK’s $352M sea defence project…

By Mikaila Prince

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) has defended a decision to pay Brian Tiwari’s BK International Incorporated an additional $74M to the company’s relatively high bid of $278M, for a project to construct rip-rap sea defences at Content, Mahaicony, following massive floods in Region Five late last year.

Breaches in the sea defence in Region Five

In response to an article published by Kaieteur News on June 25, the Public Infrastructure Ministry, headed by de facto Minister David Patterson, related that additional works to the initial scope of work for the project resulted in the $74M added to BK’s bid for the $352M contract.
Kaieteur News had reported that despite being the highest bidder for the contract, BK International was nonetheless awarded the contract, which went to the tune of $352,121,250M, as documents seen by this newspaper show.
BK International was one of the three companies who bid to secure the contract, the other two companies being MB Construction who bid $235,744,500 and Colin Talbot Contracting Services who submitted a bid of $247,599,600, while the engineer’s estimate was $184,521,000. BK’s precise bid was $278,876,300 – some $31M over the next highest bid and more than $90M over the engineer’s estimate.
Notably, procurement laws stipulate that when it comes to multi-million dollar contracts like the one BK was awarded by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAP), it is recommended that the board selects the lowest bidder. In fact, the Procurement Act of 2003 under Chapter 34 6 (a) specifically states that, “All evaluation criteria for the procurement of goods, works and services in addition to price, will be qualified in monetary terms and the tender will be awarded to the lowest evaluated.”
This decision in itself raises concerns, taking into consideration that Cabinet is needed to approve all bids over $15M. That constitutional body, however, fell with the dissolution of Parliament in December of last year.
The Public Infrastructure Ministry, in a statement to the press yesterday, wished to highlight that the $352M award does not relate to the restricted tendering process, which was initiated in April, and was subsequently annulled based on the recommendation of the Evaluation Committee.
“Whereas, the scope of works under the previous procurement process catered for the construction of 350m of rip rap revetment, the severity of the deterioration of the sea defences required that the scope of works be expanded to cover a 500 meters stretch of sea defences of which 200 meters was breached. Several design considerations were also taken into account in the revised scope of works,” the Ministry explained.
This decision also raises further concern as the Evaluation Committee cannot adjust the scope of a project that is halfway completed.
Meanwhile, BK International argues that there was nothing disingenuous about the additional $74M which was added to their bid. In a letter published in another section of the media, BK explained that, “The breach was now 500 metres. New tenders were therefore required and because of the increased volume of work, the contractors were required to adjust their bids. The final tender from BK International was $352,121,250. The company was therefore sealing a 150 meters breach for a mere $74 million… A simple mathematical computation when the additional 150 meters of sea defence is priced would show that BK International’s bid was certainly not the highest bid.”
Even as the Public Infrastructure Ministry has defended its decisions, the public is still left in the dark regarding the specifics of the project; the contract between the government and BK is yet to be seen by the public, despite numerous attempts made by this publication to examine the document.

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