Main opposition APNU yesterday joined the call for an investigation into the awarding of a contract to Surendra Engineering to build a Specialty Hospital to be funded by the Indian government.
“We are calling for a probe into the award of the contract to see if it was in accordance of correct procurement procedures, if it was transparent and if there were any manipulations,” said APNU’s Chairman David Granger yesterday.
He said that APNU’s two legal representatives will be making the request for information on the procurement process and compliance of the firms that bid, so that they may be internally analysed.
Vice-Chairman of APNU Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, when asked the party’s position on Surendra Engineering being assessed on its technical capacity to build hospitals in the wake of the flaws at the Enmore Packaging facility which it constructed, said that it seems that one of the qualifications for winning contracts is incompetence. “We continue to award contracts to contractors whose performance leaves lots to be desired. It seems that a qualification to get a contract is to be incompetent,” he added.
In the wake of the US$18,180,000 ($3,689,616,400) contract being awarded to Surendra Engineering to design, build and equip the specialty hospital, another bidder, Fedders Lloyd, has charged that the procurement process was improper. Fedders Lloyd plans to raise the issue this week with the government of India and India’s Export Import (EXIM) Bank as well as the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) here. EXIM Bank of India is the bank responsible for the line of credit for the contract and it can undertake its own evaluations and advise government on how it wants to proceed.
On Saturday, Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran evaded questions from reporters about whether procurement rules had been broken when Surendra Engineering’s bid was accepted although its security bid was to be provided from a foreign bank rather than a local one. The Health Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Leslie Cadogan, said that Fedders Lloyd had failed an aspect of the bid‘s evaluation process but declined to divulge any details when probed.
Fedders-Lloyd had submitted a bid of US$17,679,000 (or $3.4 billion) and a bid bond of US$500,000, which was obtained from the Scotia bank.
The other bidders were the contractor that built the national stadium, Shapoorji Pallonji (which bid US$42,473,600 or $8.4 billion), Jaguar Overseas Limited (US$15,658,000 or $3.05 billion) and the Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research of India (US$19.5 million).
An APNU executive told Stabroek News that the parliamentary coalition also disagrees with the long-held practice by Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon to announce Cabinet’s “no objection” to contracts. Instead, the executive said, it should be the job of the procurement body to announce the awards of contracts. The official also accused government of stalling the appointment of the much needed Public Procurement Commission. “It is public knowledge that after you hear Luncheon announce cabinet’s ‘no objection,’ that is the end of it.
There isn’t a formal notification to anyone and that should not be. It should be the job of the Procurement Commission, after cabinet sends its no objection, they announce. Since we do not have one, then the Ministry of Finance but Luncheon does it and that’s it,” the official said.
The NPTAB is required to notify the winner of the contract as well as those who have had bids rejected. The bidders have a legal right to protest the decision—a move the Health Minister awaits from Fedders Lloyd.
AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan said that the case is evidence that the setting up of the Procurement Commis-sion has been stalled for way too long. “We have been pressing for the commission and with this case, it shows all the more reason why there needs to be such a commission… the protesting company would have been able to go there and have the process scrutinised,” he said.
Questions had been earlier raised by the public about how a sugar factory spare parts dealer was awarded a billion-dollar contract to build a hospital over a company, Nous Hospital Consultants—of which Fedders-Lloyd is a part—which specialises in hospital and health care projects. “It seems that it’s [sacked Amaila Falls road contractor] Fip Motilall all over again; somebody who knows nothing about a contract is given the go ahead to do it… I want to know, taxpayers, who will have to repay this loan, want to know, the public wants to know: why a competent company who submitted their track record of building over 90 specialty hospitals worldwide and all necessary documentation was shunned for a factory builder who never built a building much less a specialty hospital?” he said.
