Contractor paid without verification of works

Contractor paid without verification of works – PAC hears

Nov 09, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Members of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday raised questioned over the manner in which a contractor was paid for a construction project in Region Two, some five years ago, even before verification of the works was done.

PAC member, Ganesh Mahipaul

In this regard, a team from the Regional Democratic Office in Region Two was made to respond to queries surrounding the project highlighted in the 2016 Auditor General (AG)’s report.
According to the AG report, a contractor in the Region was awarded a $2.363 million contract for rehabilitation works to a teachers’ living quarters in the Supenaam area, Region Two, but officials of the region overpaid the contractor some $114,000 without verification that the project works were actually completed.
Responding to the questions posed by members of the PAC was Regional Executive Officer (REO), Susanah Saywack.
She told the committee that she was not present in the Region when the contract was being supervised and as such, she could answer for what was done under her predecessor, former REO of Region Two, Rupert Hopkinson.
“…All I can say is under my tenure, we would be following procurement regulations to ensure this does not occur,” Saywack stated.
She noted that while she could not provide answers to questions, she did attempt to make contact with the previous REO for him to attend the meeting. “We attempted to make contact but there was no response,” she revealed.
The REO noted nonetheless, that some members of her team may be able to provide an explanation. As such, Opposition Member of Parliament and PAC member, Ganesh Mahipaul, turned his attention to the regional engineer, Kawan Suchit. Suchit told the committee that while he was not the engineer in charge of the region at that time, he was part of the engineering team. The Regional Engineer revealed nonetheless, that the works at the time required regular verification from those in charge of the engineer’s department.
“The works were for general repairs to teachers’ quarters in the Supenaam Creek under the previous senior engineer. The project was one which was to be examined like on a daily basis but this was not done…So the overpayment went to a concrete base that wasn’t constructed properly and some sheet lots,” he said.
The engineer added that, “the overpayment was only noticed when the audit office team visited. We have since written to the contractor several times but we were not able to recover the overpayment to the sum of $114,000.”
Mahipaul then narrowed his question to how the project was approved and signed off on as completed without proper physical verification. “Can you say then, how a certificate of completion was generated for this project to begin payment to the contractor?” he asked.
To this, the engineer said that the senior engineer who was in charge at the time was “the person handling the project.” However, neither the engineer nor the regional team could say who signed off on the project. Additionally, the team revealed that there were no documents to verify who really signed off on the project. To this end, Saywack reiterated that under his tenure, the correct procedure will be followed.
At the interim, the REO noted that letters were written to the contractor, Mr. Kurt Beaton, informing him about the overpayments but he has not responded. “Based on my record, no other project was given to this contractor,” she said.
As it relates to safeguarding against future overpayments, Regional Engineer Suchit told the committee that a better system is being used. “We implemented a [stricter] system of measured work. We had some training with the Superintendant of Works for the technical aspect of the projects… Also the works committee must sign off all aspects of projects by the region,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a separate comment on the issue of overpayment, Mahipaul noted that the problem is one which has been recurring quite frequently. “This dates back to long before 2016…,” he said. Mahipaul noted that there were several projects in the regions where contractors were being paid in full before beginning works and then deliver incomplete and substandard work. “In some cases, contractors had been paid in full for works that never started,” the PAC member added.

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