Maintaining that he has done no wrong, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson has said that a statement on the findings of the alleged procurement violations in the award of the contract to Dutch firm LievenseCSO for a feasibility study for a new Demerara River bridge was submitted to Cabinet “long ago.”
“I don’t know if they [Cabinet members] have any other questions. I am doubtful that they have any other questions because from the very first day those allegations were made we give a detailed thing [statement], which we also gave SOCU,” Patterson told Stabroek News when approached on the issue shortly after an Alliance for Change (AFC) press conference last Thursday.
He did not say when the statement, which was also circulated to all Cabinet members, was submitted.
His response contradicts comments made just days earlier by State Minister Joseph Harmon, who told a post-Cabinet press briefing that the minister had not yet briefed Cabinet on the findings of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) but was expected to do so when he returned from abroad.
The PPC found that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) breached the country’s procurement laws in the single-sourcing of the contract to LievenseCSO. Cabinet had cleared the award of the contract.
The PPC, in its findings, said MPI did not place any advertisement for retendering the project, there was no evidence that any restricted procurement process was undertaken for the consultancy, and there was no evidence in the records of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) of a request made by MPI to approve a single-source award.
The PPC said an examination of the records relating to the tender and discussions with the relevant officials indicate that “the procurement procedure used to select LievenseCSO to execute the contract did not meet the requirements of any of the methods described in the Procurement Act.”
There is no procedure that defines how a procuring entity should deal with “unsolicited proposals,” such as the one reportedly received from LievenseCSO, it further noted.
While Cabinet has the right to review all procurements exceeding $15 million based on a streamlined tender evaluation report adopted by the NPTAB, the PPC said there was no evidence that the report to Cabinet was prepared by the NPTAB. Instead, it was submitted by Patterson directly to Cabinet, which was a breach of the Procurement Act.
“The Procurement Act and Regulations make no provision for the Minister of Public Infrastructure to take a procurement request directly to Cabinet for approval of award of a contract,” the PPC said.
After the PPC’s findings were released to her, Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira wrote to Head of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and urged that there be a comprehensive investigation, with a view to instituting criminal charges against Patterson.
And after a review, the Legal Advisor to the police, retired Justice Claudette Singh, gave the unit certain directions, which are currently being pursued.
Patterson last Thursday confirmed the submission of a statement and other documents to SOCU and he said he had not been invited to visit the Camp Street office or told anything further. SOCU officials would only tell this newspaper that investigations are ongoing.
Just as he had indicated in a press release issued by his office, Patterson reiterated that he would comply with whatever instructions are given. “I have complied with all the instructions we have received to date,” he noted.
‘Clutching at straws’
Patterson described the allegations being made against him as “clutching at straws,” before adding that “it is all in politics.” The minister pointed out that he is glad that this has happened because it shows that the opposition PPP has confidence in SOCU. “So I do hope that if persons from the former regime are charged, they take it just as I take it. I [would] welcome the charges and I will defend as strenuously as I can but I am glad that they have seen the credibility of SOCU… [and] are subjecting themselves to the investigations of SOCU… what’s good for the goose is good for gander,” he added.
Asked if he believes that the investigation will hurt the AFC’s ongoing local government campaign or his credibility, he said, “No, of course not… Everybody sees they are clutching at straws… We went to Cabinet. It [the contract award] was open and transparent. That’s it.”
He opined that the SOCU investigation will allow for final determinations to be made about the bridge feasibility contract award and thereafter the PPP will “have to find something else to talk about.”
Patterson also said he believes that his ministry is being targeted. “The reasons are very obvious,” he said, before reminding that in 2016, the Auditor General launched an investigation into the spending associated with the D’Urban Park project. “It’s 2018. There hasn’t been a report yet. I know we provided everything but by not having a report …allows persons with ill intention against my ministry, to get up and use it as something against the Ministry…so, therefore, the Auditor General is allowing people to say that my Ministry is deficient,” he said before pointing out the Auditor General should be asked about this matter given the amount of time that has passed.
Auditor General Deodat Sharma has since said the findings of his special investigation into the billion-dollar D’Urban Park project is included among the findings in his report on the public accounts for 2017, which was handed over to the Speaker of the National Assembly last Friday.
MPI in August defended the single-sourcing of the bridge feasibility contract, saying there were time constraints surrounding the need to complete the new bridge. “MPI reiterates that lengthy procurement procedures were faithfully followed which did not yield suitable results. Having thereafter received a proposal which satisfied the government’s requirements for this project of national importance and given the relevant time constraints, it was felt that it was in Guyana’s interest to take advantage of the proposal. It is for this and other stated reasons that Cabinet’s approval was sought,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, even as SOCU continues its investigation, the ministry is going ahead with its plans for the construction of the bridge. Asked for an update on the project, Patterson said that in another few weeks the ministry would begin accepting bids from companies interested in entering into a public/private partnership with government. He said too that the ministry has already received several quotations and as a result there is an idea of the cost to build a four-lane bridge.
