Former Auditor-General Anand Goolsarran has called on City Hall to rescind the secret contract for the installation and operation of parking meters in Georgetown even as he pointed out that procurement laws were not followed.
In accordance with Section 231 of the Municipal and District Councils’ Act, before entering into any contract for the execution of any work or the supply of any goods to the value of $250,000, or more, a council is required to give notice of such proposed contract and “shall by such notice invite any person willing to undertake the same to submit a sealed tender thereof to the council…”, Goolsarran pointed out in his Accountability Watch column in today’s Stabroek News.
He noted that the Minister may by directions in writing, exempt any council from the above requirement in respect of certain works or goods.
“However, these procedures were not followed. Mayor Patricia Chase-Green contended that since no funds from City Hall are being used in the installation and operations of the parking meters, there was no need to go to tender. She further stated that the Council would be receiving 20% of the gross proceeds. However, her assessment ignores the fact that without competitive bidding, the Council is not in a position to ascertain whether the offer by NPS is the best. Was it not possible for some other individual or firm to offer more than 20% of the gross proceeds while at the same time charging less than the proposed $125 for every 15 minutes of parking?” he questioned.
Under the controversial deal struck between the city and National Parking Systems/Smart Cities Solutions it has been proposed that $125 be charged per 15-minute rotation. However, while Chase-Green has lobbied in support of the purported US$10 million deal, several councillors, including Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan, have questioned why the contract, signed by Town Clerk Royston King, was not made available for review by the entire council.
Chase-Green has since said the contract is the “private document of the administration” and it will not be made public until the project is well into the implementation stages. This, as well as the lack of public consultation on the details of the contract, which reportedly include a 49-year monopoly, has drawn sharp criticism. As it relates to the $500 an hour cost to citizens, the mayor has since claimed that the cost to citizens will be much less. The contract is presently being reviewed by the David Granger administration. Granger has said he believes that the current proposed rate for paid parking in the city is “burdensome.”
In his column, Goolsarran noted the absence of consultations on the contract, both at the level of the city council, and with citizens and other stakeholders.
“A project of this nature would generally require public advertisement inviting interested persons or firms to submit Expressions of Interest (EOIs) as part of a prequalification exercise. Following the evaluation of the EOIs by a technical committee, eligible individuals/firms are requested to submit bids on the basis of which the contract is awarded. The fact that the City Council failed to follow these procedures and proceeded to handpick a contractor is a serious indictment in terms of transparency and competitiveness,” he declared.
The other issue is one of due diligence which is an established procedure before major contracts are awarded, the former Auditor-General said. He pointed out that Duncan had contended that there was a “total lack of verifiable information on the company and its capacity to execute the scope of the project,” and in his research, Duncan did not find any company by the name ‘Smart City Solutions’ associated with parking meter systems, in any of the places where the firm claimed it has done business.
Given the circumstances, Goolsarran called on City Hall to rescind the contract with NPS for the installation and operations of parking meters in Georgetown and to consult with citizens of Georgetown and other stakeholders on any proposal to introduce parking meters. He said that depending on the outcome of such consultations, then the approval of the City Council to proceed with the proposal should be sought.
Further, the former Auditor-General advised, on the assumption that approval is granted, City Hall should advertise publicly for Expressions of Interest from interested individuals and/or firms; appoint a technical evaluation committee and conduct a pre-qualification exercise to identify eligible individuals and/or firms; invite eligible individual and/or firms to submit tenders; and award the contract to the most competitive bidder, taking into account other pertinent considerations, including the conduct of due diligence procedures.
Meantime, Goolsarran also highlighted the “broken” financial management system in place at City Hall and said it needs to be urgently fixed.
He noted that the newly-elected City Council has embarked on a campaign to raise much-needed revenue to meet the cost of essential services. “While such efforts are to be lauded, the Council’s track record on financial accountability has been a dismal one, to say the least. It is therefore imperative for City Hall to urgently address the issue of the lack of financial accountability. With such a broken financial management system in place, any initiative aimed at broadening and enhancing the Council’s revenue base could be adversely affected,” the former Auditor-General declared.
“In the same way a fisherman patches his/her net that is filled with holes, before going out early in the morning fishing, or better yet discard it for a new one; so must City Hall address the issue of the lack of financial stewardship before embarking on any new venture,” he said.
