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PAC requests contract document for medical supplies to Govt. Forensic Lab
– after company fails to deliver on time
The Government Forensic Lab.
Kaieteur News – The non-delivery of items and stale dated cheques were among the issues on the agenda of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as members examined the records related to the procurement of goods under the Ministry of Home Affairs in relation to the audit report for 2017.
The issues raised in the meeting saw the PAC, in the end, requesting the contract document between the Ministry and Caribbean Medical Supplies (the contracting firm) for the purchase and delivery of goods for the Guyana Forensic Lab. The issue occurred under the leadership of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government.
Minister of Public Works and PAC member, Juan Edghill brought questions over the handling of the contract to the fore.
According to Edghill, the 2017 report outlined that the sum of $77.198M was expended on drugs and medical supplies. He said that included in the amount of $77.198M is a contract which was awarded by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) in the sum of $16.947M for the procurement of drugs and medical supplies for the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory.
“The full amount was paid to the contractor, however, at the time of reporting of the auditors, materials to the value of $10.818M were still to be delivered,” Edghill said, asking for clarity into the transaction.
“What I would like to know is how this contractor was given 100 percent payment without the delivery of the items? Who approved this payment?”Edghill asked.
In response, Finance Secretary Sukrishnalall Pasha pointed out that the ministry had no authority to decide on its own to make a 100 percent advance payment without the approval of NPTAB.
When she was called upon to explain, former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Daniella McCalmon could not provide details on the transaction.
She told the committee that she was not present for the pre-planning meeting of the contract nor does she have the requisite documents to give a plausible answer.
“All I know is that 50 percent of the money was paid and after deliveries were delayed then the bond was submitted and the final payment handed over,” she said.
Additionally, it was noted that after the delays between 2017 and 2018, the supplies were delivered in 2019.
During that time, a bond was requested but none of the officers could immediately say who requested the bond.
It was also revealed that the bond was lodged by way of two cheques but again no one could clarify if it was a manager’s cheque or a personal cheque.
It was also observed that one of the cheques was “stale-dated.”
Members of the committee agreed that the holding of cheques were against the standard operating procedures as outlined in procurement laws.
Such a bond should come directly from a banking or otherwise financial institution like an insurance company.
Since neither the PS nor the Finance Secretary could not provide answers to the committee, Member of Parliament (MP) Vishwa Mahadeo introduced a verbal motion to have the agency “go, sort themselves out, and come again.”
Meanwhile, the Accountant General, Jennifer Chapman observed that it was an unusual practice with officers at the Home Affairs Ministry and went on to claim that it was an isolated incident and it should not have happened.
“I want to caution Permanent Secretaries to please comply with the SOPs,” Chapman appealed.
“If we continue, government will lose funds because should we have needed to encash the cheques later, the provider may not have had the cash… please desist,” Chapman said.
Her position was supported by PAC members, Gail Teixeira and Finance Secretary Pasha.
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