The manner in which ads are placed for procurement by the Public Infrastructure Ministry is much fairer now than before, according to Permanent Secre-tary (PS) Balraj Balram.
In his testimony before the Public Service Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Friday, Balram responded in the affirmative when he was asked to clarify by Professor Harold Lutchman, Chairman of the CoI, whether political influences at some stage intruded in the placement of ads.
Asked his suggestions for improving the manner in which contracts are awarded, the PS suggested wider media coverage of the advertisements. He explained that the ministry had always been advertising in the state-owned newspaper, the Guyana Chronicle.
He said some persons had, however, raised concerns about the lack of access or reach of the state newspaper, when compared with the other dailies. Asked why he thought that was so, Balram told the chairman that it was a policy of the former PPP/C administration that such advertisements be placed only through the Government Information Agency (GINA). He, however, said that now he sees that there are ads in the other newspapers and he singled out the Stabroek News and Kaieteur News as being such papers.
In 2006, the then Jagdeo administration withdrew government advertisements from Stabroek News. The ban on ads in this newspaper continued for 17 months after which it was eased to enable ads to the Guyana Times. Eventually the government withdrew all state ads from private daily newspapers and advertised only with the state-owned Guyana Chronicle and the PPP-aligned Mirror newspaper.
During his testimony, Balram also detailed the procedures followed to guide the award of contracts.
He noted that he is the chairman of the Ministerial Tender Board in the Public Infrastructure Ministry. In respect of the ministry’s tender board, he said that there are limits to the value of the contracts that it can award. For civil works, he said, there is a limit of $8M; for roads and services, $4M; and for consultancies, $3M. Balram said for anything above $8M, the ministry has to first go to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
He said that at the end of every year, public advertisements are placed in the press for contractors to be pre-qualified above the $8M limit.
He said that in the advertisements, contractors are asked to submit their bids to the NPTAB, which appoints evaluators, who would make recommendations.
This, he said, then goes to NPTAB for its consideration and approval. The PS explained that in cases where the contracts are over $15M, they have to go to Cabinet for its “no-objection.”
Responding to a question from the chairman regarding complaints his ministry would have regarding the award of contracts, Balram said that there are instances where some contractors feel that they have not been fairly treated.
Balram said that last year alone the ministerial tender board awarded nearly 400 contracts but he noted that it is not practicable for every contract to be advertised. As an example, he said that a contract for $2M would not be advertised.
He said, however, that the new Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson explained that after assuming office, he received a series of complaints that contractors were not being awarded contracts for the ministry.
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He noted that the minister said that they needed to examine closely the pre-qualified list. Balram said that there are times when there may be in excess of 100 contractors to consider. He said that if a small project arises, they can only choose between five to ten contractors as opposed to the entire 100.
Balram told the commission that Minister Patterson, however, implored them to ensure that the entire 100 or so people who are pre-qualified are covered for consideration.
According to Balram the complaints that the minister received eventually revealed that the persons were not pre-qualified. He said that once the person is not pre-qualified or on the list, then the ministry would not offer a chance to bid to such a person.
He, however, explained that where there is a public advertisement, then everyone would have an equal chance at bidding.
He said there are also instances where, in the much larger contracts such as for sea defence works, some contractors felt that there were not given a “fair deal;” they complain that although theirs is the lowest bid, they are not awarded the contract.
The PS, however, said that the evaluation team considers not only the lowest bid. In a particular case, he said that a contract had to be terminated for going beyond the contractual period. He said that there was no plan by the contractor to complete the work and as a result liquated damages had to be imposed.
Balram said afterward the ministry took the position that that contractor would not be awarded any other contract and it alerted the NPTAB, which was given a report on the specific contractor’s past performance and non-compliance with the terms of contract.
Balram said it was a major contract which had the potential of affecting the public with regards to flooding.
He said that the NPTAB was then satisfied after that report was given. The PS alluded to one other contract which he said has since engaged the attention of the courts after being terminated on grounds of poor performance.
Balram emphasised that where there is “poor performance,” the terms of the contract are rigidly enforced. He, however, said that where substandard work may not be the fault of the contractor, a chance is given for them to effect corrective repairs.
The CoI is charged with making recommendations on the role, functions, recruitment process, remuneration and conditions of service for public servants.
