Strategic Action Security, whose owner is charged with receiving stolen property, is one of the firms that bid yesterday to provide security services for 28 Health Ministry locations.
The legally embattled owner of the firm, Richard Khanai, was present yesterday when the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board opened bids for the Health Ministry contract and other projects at its Georgetown offices.
Khanai, 58, was charged at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court in August last year with receiving a stolen One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Project computer and he was placed on $100,000 bail pending the determination of the matter.
A similar charge filed against Kanhai had been dropped just the week before after a West Coast Demerara farmer told a court that he did not wish to proceed with the matter. In that matter, Khanai was accused of receiving a stolen plough.
Afterward, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill had told Stabroek News that Strategic Action Security was unlikely to receive any government contracts until criminal charges facing Khanai were settled.
Edghill had said that there was nothing prohibiting Kanhai from bidding for contracts. However, he explained that when the bids went to evaluators, the bidders then would be scrutinised. “There is nothing that can stop anyone from bidding … when it goes for evaluation is a different matter. There, questions will be asked on litigation,” he said. “The actual regulation says that if a person is convicted only then… put it this way, somebody who is charged with something like that raises a level of questioning and I don’t see him being awarded a contract as the practical way to go,” he had stated.
The bids received for the project are as follows:
Meanwhile, bids were also opened for a series of works for the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA).
For fabrication and delivery of eight stainless steel sluice gates for construction of the East Demerara Water Conservancy high-level sluice outfall structure at Hope/ Douchfour on the East Coast of Demerara, the bids were as follows:
For, rehabilitation of NDIA’s No. 7, 15, 16, 17, 21, and 312 BL Caterpillar Excavators in Region 6:
For rehabilitation of NDIA’s No. 20 and 9 Excavators at Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara:
For construction and supply of timber mats for the East Demerara Water Conservancy Northern relief channel project:
