Chairperson of the recently-established Bid Protest Committee (BPC) Renee McDonald has resigned even as the body’s first case—Cevons Waste Management’s protest against the Ministry of Communities over the award of a $221M Haags Bosch landfill maintenance contract—awaits a decision.
Both Cevons and the selected contractor Puran Brothers Disposal Inc yesterday registered their concerns about McDonald’s resignation and the possible setback to the decision on the award of the contract.
McDonald would only confirm her resignation and pointed Stabroek News to Attorney General Basil Williams for answers to other questions posed yesterday. “You will have to speak with the Attorney General,” she said.
Williams, according to the Procurement Act, is responsible for selecting the chair of the Bid Protest Committee in the absence of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC).
At 6.52 pm yesterday, the Attorney General returned a call but when told it was this newspaper, he informed that he could not speak as he was still at Cabinet but would call back later. Up to press time, he had not done so.
On Sunday, Williams had said that he was at a meeting in Parika and would also return a call but never did. Last week, when he was contacted, Williams informed again that he was busy but said he thought the call was to deal with the just-concluded Hague Conference. When told of the Bid Protest Committee, he quickly mentioned again that he was busy but that the Ministry of Finance was “handling that” and hung up.
The three-member committee was established earlier this month and comprised McDonald as the Chairman and former GTT Manager Archibald Clifton and Insurance Broker Ewart Adams as the other two members.
It received its first protest from the Cevons Waste Management Group, on the grounds that a $221M contract for the management and maintenance of the Haags Bosch landfill, on the East Bank Demerara, had been improperly awarded to Puran Brothers Disposal Inc.
Puran Brothers has defended its credentials and rubbished the claims that the contract award was unfair, even as it made clear that it recognised the right of protest and will stand by the BPC’s decision.
The procuring agency, the Ministry of Communities also went public in its rejecting of the Cevons Group’s claims and in a statement on Monday reiterated that all “reasonable standards and procedures of civility, ethics and integrity were followed.”
The ministry’s statement affirmed that it followed procurement rules while assuring that it will at no time seek to deny any interested stakeholder the opportunity to contribute to the integrity and reliability of the process that will lead to the improved solid waste management. “The ministry is of the view that any bidder has a right to appeal to the Procurement Board in instances of dissatisfaction. The Ministry of Communities has completely submitted itself to the Bid Protest Committee in the present matter of the Haags Bosch Landfill Site,” it added.
It is unclear if the ministry is aware that the BPC currently has no Chairperson as calls to Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan went unanswered.
Setback
Meanwhile, representatives of both Cevons and Puran Brothers told Stabroek News that they were not aware of either McDonald’s resignation or how far the BPC got with the protest but they felt that it has set the bid protest back some time and ultimately their plans.
“We received a letter from the Chairman of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) around the 14th or 15th of July, that the Bid Protest Committee will be convening soon and will be looking at our protest. That has been all as it pertains to the protest,” Chief Executive Officer of the Cevons Group, Morse Archer, said.
“We are only learning of the resignation now and I was truly looking forward to this process moving apace and it is indeed regrettable. However, while it will set the process back, I don’t think the resignation will halt the process, as it will only be delayed…I have hope that the system will work and that this setback—I don’t know now for how long—caused by the resignation, will be a very temporary one and that they understand that there are some time factors there to take in according to the [Procurement Act]”, partner in the Cevons consortium, Ivor Allen added.
Puran Brothers, which has stated that it remains confident that the BPC will validate the firm as having credentials, yesterday lamented that the delay in the process would set back its plans, in which it has invested heavily since the project signing.
“In the meanwhile everything is being halted… how long are we going to continue like this? I mean they have our resources that we invested after the contract was signed and now we are halted,” Kaleshwar Puran said.
According to the Procurement Act, the BPC, after receipt of the protest, shall issue a written decision within (15) fifteen business days of the conclusion of a review, stating the reasons for the decision and the remedies granted, if any. Its decision shall be final.
It says that damages may include only compensation to recover the cost of the bid preparation. The final contract award is suspended during this period.
