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Alleged ‘collusion’ seen between contractor and engineer in Region Six- PAC hears
The Region Six Democratic Council team presented before the PAC on Monday.
Kaieteur News – An investigation by the Auditor General’s Office unearthed what appeared to be collusion between the regional engineer from Region Six Democratic Council and a contractor.
According to the investigation, in eight instances, the contractor’s sum was the same as the engineer’s estimate. As a result, the contracting firm Associated Construction Inc. was awarded all eight contracts for capital works conducted in the East Berbice, Corentyne area of Region Six.The issue was highlighted at the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) by Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira during a sitting on Monday. Teixeira was at the time enquiring about the strange occurrence in which a single contractor was awarded multiple contracts because his figures matched the regional engineer. Teixeira noted that she found the occurrence “highly suspicious.”
“One time is rare but to have it happen eight times… what are the odds that the engineer’s estimate and the contractor’s estimate are the exactly same?” she asserted. The Region Six team led by the Regional Executive Officer (REO), Narindra Singh admitted that there might have been collusion between the engineer and the contractor.
He admitted too that there was a diversion of the Regional Administration from the procurement laws and regulations with the undertaking being done in the context of restricted tendering. Singh said nonetheless that efforts were made to ensure that there is no reoccurrence of the incident.
The audit examination revealed eight instances, where the contract sum was the same as the Engineer’s estimate. The report noted that, “Each item on the contractor’s bill of quantities was identical to that of the engineer’s bill of quantities. All eight of these contracts were awarded by the Regional Tender Board of which four were awarded at one sitting. It was noted that all eight contracts were awarded to one contractor.”
Further, the audit checks revealed that 153 contracts to the value of $604.849M for both current and capital expenditures for that year were not publicly advertised and, as such, were procured by means of restricted tendering.
The Procurement Act 25(2) states that a procuring entity may use a method of procurement other than public tendering proceedings in which case the procuring entity shall include in the records a statement of the grounds and circumstances on which it relied to justify the use of that particular method of procurement. However, no such statement was presented for audit scrutiny. It was further stated in the Procurement Act 26 (1) (a) that when the procurement method of restricted tendering is used; the procuring entity shall invite all suppliers and contractors to submit tenders. However, audit checks revealed that the regional tender board did not invite all its prequalified contractors to submit tenders for which they were qualified. Further, analysis of the Regional Tender Board (RTB) minutes revealed that the RTB had invited a maximum of four contractors and in some instances less than four, to submit tenders for 140 contracts valued at $570.144M of the 153 contracts.
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