Latest update October 30th, 2026 10:25 AM
GPF breached Procurement Act with contract splitting – AG report
(Kaieteur News) – The 2024 Auditor General’s report has found that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has breached the Procurement Act of 2003 by splitting contracts and awarding 62 contracts worth $15.047 million.
Contract splitting is a practice where a single large project is divided into smaller components. This is done so that each smaller contract is kept under the value threshold that triggers a formal, competitive bidding process or a higher level of management review.
This in turn, allows for the avoidance of formal procurement rules increasing the risk of procurement fraud, including kickbacks and bid-rigging.
The Procurement Act 2003 Section 14 states, “A procuring entity shall not split or cause to split contracts or divide or cause to divide its procurement into separate contracts where the sole purpose for doing so is to avoid the application of any provision of this Act,” the report said.
Nevertheless, it was observed from the sample selected during the audit that the act was breached by the GPF with the 62 contracts awarded for several projects throughout the Force. Looking at the values of these contracts, it gives the impression that the payments were deliberately subdivided to avoid adjudication by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
“The Police Force’s response stated that the head of the budget agency indicated that measures are put in place to avoid any reoccurrences. The audit office recommends that the head of the budget agency complies fully with the Procurement Act 2003,” the report further stated.
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