PPP/C pays US$10M for helicopter, before tender board approved deal

Dec 17, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Defence Force in 2020 was given some $200M to supplement its air, water and land transport fleet that was earmarked for the purposes of buying “tractor, ambulances, boats, outboard engines, and drone.”

Head-of-State, President Irfaan Ali, inside the cockpit of the Bell 412 Helicopter at the commissioning ceremony this year

The Budget Agency was subsequently provided an additional supplementary allocation of some $2.180 billion bringing the total amounts allocated for that purpose to $2.380 billion.
The Auditor General, in his report for government spending in 2020, found that the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) awarded a contract in the sum of US$9.500M on 14th December 2020 for the procurement of one Bell 412 EPI Aircraft, and US$500,000 as miscellaneous fees for the cost of fuel, ferrying pilots, landing and navigation charges, airfare for GDF pilots and engineers, personnel allowances, customs fees and aircraft insurance by direct contracting/single source.

It was noted however that the contract was signed on 4th December 2020 between the supplier and the Force; that is, ten days before approval was granted by the NPTAB. As such, the Auditor General said this constitutes a breach of Section 42 of the Procurement Act. The Bell 412 EPI Aircraft, which was acquired new and have a seating capacity for thirteen persons, was received by the Guyana Defence Force on 15th March 2021. The transaction, importantly was undertaken during the People’s Progressive Party Civic administration which took Office in August of that year and was subsequently approved through the National Assembly, an estimated US$1,909,778 (GYD$414,200,000) as advance payment for the helicopter.

One of the contentious drones being viewed by the then officials in charge

At the time of debating the supplementary request, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Kumar Singh had reported that, “the budget for 2020 approved a number of specific activities… in this specific instance, the bringing into operation of these aircraft were identified to be activities that were not anticipated at the time the budget was enacted, but were deemed critical for aerial capacity.” The U.S. State Department approved the possible foreign military sale of two Bell 412Epi and two Bell 429 helicopters to the Government of Guyana, which will be used to conduct maritime surveillance and patrol, search and rescue, interdiction; counter narcotic trafficking and transnational criminal organisations. The Bell 412Epi specifically has a range of 672km and is a modernised, four-bladed version of the UH-1 Huey utility helicopter. It is often used for police roles, as well as offshore oil rig worker and military troop transportation.

According to the Defence Security Cooperation Agency, the principal contractor will be Bell Helicopter Textron Incorporated (BHTI), Piney Flats, TN. Another of the contentious purchases that had raised eyebrows in the past relate to the purchase of drones that had come under intense public scrutiny over the perceived exorbitant price paid at the time.
This publication had reported that in December the previous year, the GDF had not only paid for five drones at $36M each–$180M total—but investigations by this publication found that the company—Skyfront Drones—is in fact, a start-up drone company located in a business incubator. Compounding the situation is that government paid as much as five times more than the cost of a similar drone with similar specifications. In fact, the one purchased by the Guyana Government is one that the company only managed to finish designing and testing, months earlier.

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