After years of suffering from limited facilities, the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) is set for a major upgrade which includes four laboratories.
In an advertisement in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, the Ministry of Public Health issued a request for expressions of interest in the construction of laboratories and an office complex.
The ad said that four laboratories are to be constructed to internationally accredited standards and housed under a single roof with an office complex to house approximately 60 staff members and 10 auxiliary staff.
The building will be 30,000 square feet and two stories on 1.15 acres of landscaped garden-type land. The designs will also have to cater for external storage bonds, a power room, ramp, lift, waste disposal system and solar installation.
Under the contract, equipment will have to be supplied for the microbiology, chemistry, drug and bio-safety labs.
The complex will also have state of the art features such as teleconferencing.
“The department will be a green field project aimed at kick-starting the agro-processing sector in Guyana “intended to stimulate significant economic activity and also provide sufficient technical capability to allow Guyana to insulate its populace against substandard items of food, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices traded on its market”.
The GA-FDD has struggled in recent years to meet this challenge.
According to the advertisement, the design period will last four months, construction – 15 months, furniture and equipment installation and testing – five months and the defects liability period – 12 months.
Expressions of interest have to be submitted by September 18 to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board.
