The Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) breached the Procurement Act in awarding a contract in December 2016 to Dutch firm LievenseCSO for consultancy services for the feasibility study and design for the new Demerara River Bridge, a Public Procurement Commission (PPC) investigation has found.
It was the latest procurement embarrassment for the Granger administration which while in opposition had accused the previous government of numerous breaches of the law. Despite having established the long-awaited PPC, the Granger administration has been cited for several major procurement breaches and questions have been raised recently about another contract with HDM Labs.
The report of the investigation said that MPI did not heed the advice offered by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) to retender the project after the first tendering process failed to procure a company and the process was annulled.