Multi-million dollar contracts for repairs to two buildings in Region Nine were executed by two contractors who did not secure the awards during the bidding process, Auditor General Deodat Sharma has found.
The first contract pertained to repairs to a section of the Aishalton Hospital building, while the other dealt with repairs to the Potarinau Primary School. In each case, Sharma found that the highest bidder awarded the contract never did any of the work. Rather, other contractors did.
Sharma included these findings in the 2017 Auditor General’s (AG) report, which was recently presented to the National Assembly. Discrepancies with these two contractors were discovered during an examination of the money spent on maintenance works from January 1 to December 31, 2017.
According to the report, the Regional Tender Board awarded the contract for repairs to the hospital to the highest ranked of nine evaluated bidders at the “corrected bid price” of $10.108 million. The contractor had bid $9.239 million and the Engineer’s Estimate was $10.731 million.
However, while looking at records, it was observed that the works were instead undertaken by another contractor, who had ranked third in the Evaluation Report, with the contract sum of $9.993M.
As of 31 December, 2017, the full contract sum was paid to the contractor, the report said.
It added that similarly, the contract for repairs to the school was awarded to the highest of nine evaluated bidders at the bid price of $5.826 million. The Engineer’s Estimate was $7.699 million. However, an examination of the Contract Register revealed that the works were instead undertaken by another contractor. This contractor was not included in the Evaluation Report.
As of 31 December, 2017, the report said that total payments made to the contractor amounted to $8.123 million.
In response to the observations, the region indicated that these occurrences were as a result of a “deficiency” in the minutes. The region indicated too that action will be taken to ensure that the all decisions at the Tender Board are “fully captured.”
The Audit Office in turn recommended that the regional administration ensures that all contracts awarded are in keeping with the Procurement Act and that its Tender Board minutes contain adequate details that would enable a proper determination of the basis of the award of each contract.
The AG’s report further stated that evaluation reports were also not presented for six maintenance projects undertaken in 2017.
Based on a table included in the report, the contracts, which amounted to $28.415 million, concerned repair works to the Toka Nursery School, Yakarinta Primary, government buildings, Macushi Teachers Quarters, the Sand Creek Primary School fence and the Rupertee Nursery School fence.
In response, the Head of Budget Agency indicated that efforts will be made to locate these evaluation reports and present them for audit.
The Audit Office recommends that the regional administration take all the necessary measures to review the controls in relation to evaluation reports and ensure the security of these records for audit examination.
Meanwhile, the report stated that the regional administration is still to recover overpayments totaling $21.465 million, which were made on several contracts for the years 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016.
These contracts pertain to the construction of an Amerindian Hostel at Annai, construction of a road in Lethem, construction of Teacher’s Quarters at Maruranau Village, construction of the bridge at Chiliwau, the extension of St. Ignatius Primary School, rehabilitation of the Agriculture Complex – St. Ignatius, upgrading of the Aishalton Secondary Female Dorms, upgrading of the Aishalton Secondary Male Dorms, construction of five apartment buildings at Sand Creek, upgrading of the Karasabai Health Centre, extension to the Sand Creek Health Centre, rehabilitation of the Slaughter House at Aishalton, construction of a trestle, well and the installation of a solar pump at Meriwau and the construction of culverts at the Kabanawau Bridge approach.
In response, the region indicated that efforts are continuing to recover the amounts overpaid.
It was recommended that the regional administration make every effort to recover the overpayments and put proper systems in place to avoid a recurrence.
