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Patterson accuses NPTAB evaluation committee of fraud as documents submitted by bidder allegedly ignored
Kaieteur News – Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson has accused the evaluation committee of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) of committing fraud, by ignoring documents submitted by the lowest bidder for a project in 2023.
That company, Akamai Inc. had its bid deemed non-responsive by NPTAB since it explained: “a) the bidder failed to submit documentary evidence to demonstrate supply of similar goods in at least 1 contract in the last two (2) years to a minimum value of G$5M and (b) the bidder failed to provide a letter stating that the company had no terminated projects.”
Patterson in a letter to the media detailed that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) finally issued a report based on the complaint from a contractor which was “predictably a whitewash of the administrative review process and falls short of the standards expected from a constitutional agency.”
The former Minister explained that it was the Office of the Prime Minister that issued an invitation to bid for line hardware in March 2023 with the bid opening slated for April 2023. Five bids were returned however the lowest bid by Akamai Inc. was the only bid deemed non-responsive.
Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson
According to Patterson, Akamai Inc. is the sole distributor of the requested line hardware; hence it was expected that the company would submit the lowest bid.
He contends that there was no prescribed format for the submission of evidence of previous projects, and hence Akamai Inc. submitted a spreadsheet detailing all their previous contracts, detailing the procurement agencies as well the contract sums. Be that as it may, he said, “Not surprisingly, in an effort to deem the bidder non-responsive, the procurement agency found this detailed listing unacceptable.”
He reasoned that the bidder did fulfill the second requirement which the evaluation committee deemed non-responsive which was a letter addressed to the procuring entity stating specifically that none of their projects was ever terminated.
A document reportedly submitted by the bidder that was ignored by the evaluation committee of NPTAB
To this end, Patterson noted, “(this is) clear evidence that this information was fraudulently omitted by the evaluation committee or ignored.” He attached copies of the documents that were submitted by the bidder.
The former Minister claims that the PPC in arriving at its report to support the award did not contact the bidder to seek clarification on the claims for debarment made in the evaluation report, even though this is standard when reviewing complaints. He said, “All parties to the complaint should be given an opportunity to defend their position.”
Patterson believes that the PPC “adopted a defective report, performed no investigative analysis and rubberstamped the award.”
He explained that the Alliance For Change (AFC) nominated commissioner on the PPC indicated that both opposition commissioners found the submission of the list of projects comprehensive and acceptable. Moreover, he said “they were unaware that the bidder had actually submitted the claimed missing letter regarding terminated projects.”
Patterson noted that the AFC nominated commissioner also informed that she recommended that natural justice procedures be adopted, whereby all parties should be given an opportunity to respond before a final decision is made by the commission; however this was overruled by the majority vote of the Commission.
Patterson said, “Strangely, but not unsurprisingly, the PPC failed to highlight that section 5 (5) (a) of the Procurement Act specifically states “a procuring entity may not disqualify a supplier or contractor on the ground that information submitted concerning the qualifications of the supplier or contractors was inaccurate or incomplete in a non-material respect.” The claimed incomplete information as supplied by this contractor are all non-material in every respect, and in accordance with the Act, such non material deficiencies can be remedied.”
He believes that the investigation and subsequent report by the PPC sets a dangerous precedent for other complaints lodged such as the NPTAB’s award of the Belle Vue pump station and the award of the Bamia Secondary school, lodged since October 2023 and February 2023, respectively.
- allegedly, David Patterson, Former Minister of Public Infrastructure, fraud, National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB)
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