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Procurement penalties to be updated to include blacklisting of errant contractors – AG
Kaieteur News – The Procurement Act is set to be updated to include powers that will allow for blacklisting of errant contractors, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall has said.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, S.C.
Nandlall told reporters on Monday during a press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Georgetown, that the government is looking to update the almost two decades-old Procurement Act to ensure that contractors do quality work in a timely manner. As such, a review, he said, is important to guarantee transparency and accountability in the execution of contracts, and to ensure that quality work is delivered on time.
“There is a regime of penalties that will be imposed when there is breach of those obligations. There will also be a mechanism that will allow for a fair and transparent system of blacklisting of contractors who are guilty of repeated breaches of contract and delinquency in the discharge of their contractual duties,” Nandlall said.
He noted that any such revision of the existing law would only cover public contracts and not any private business. Last year, the government made a resolute decision to take robust measures against contractors who fail to fulfill their contractual obligations.
Nandlall had previously explained, “These are contractors who are issued with contracts from the government and, for whatever reason, have been breaching those contracts causing tremendous delays in the execution and completion of public works across the country, stalling the government’s infrastructural development drive.”
In order to tackle this problem, he stated that the Ministry of Finance has been given instructions to expeditiously carry out an audit to identify contractors who are not in compliance.
Once identified, this information will be transferred to his office, noting that he has been explicitly instructed to inform the errant contractors of actions to be taken, enforce liquidated damages as permitted by contract terms, and commence legal proceedings for contract violation. “We cannot continue to have contractors not discharging the contractual obligations in accordance with the contractual specifications. Government will not tolerate substandard work and breach of contracts from contractors who are paid billions of dollars to discharge their contractual obligations,” the AG explained.
He continued: “Contractors who are performing well and who are discharging their contractual obligations have no reason to worry. The delinquent ones, however, that delinquency will attract certain legal consequences and the government intends to move strongly and swiftly in that direction.”
The Government of Guyana has been working to hold contractors accountable for failing to finish their projects within the allocated period. One such project is rehabilitation of the Leguan Ferry Stelling.
The Ministry of Public Works accused the contractor, Sattrohan Maraj of S. Maraj Contracting Services, which was contacted for undertaking works to the Leguan Stelling, of attempting to extort money from the government for the project. The ministry said the entity missed another contractual deadline to complete the structure, six years after the contract was signed under the previous APNU+AFC government.
- Anil Nandlall, Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, errant contractors, Procurement Act
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