Concerned about reports of alleged bid tampering at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has asked the agency for a report.
“The PPC is also concerned about the incident that allegedly took place at NPTAB and, as a first action, we have asked for an official report on the matter,” Chairperson of the PPC Carol Corbin told Stabroek News when contacted.
“This request has been made to the Chairman, NPTAB, in keeping with our constitutional mandate to investigate such matters. I do not wish to comment further pending receipt of that report,” she added.
The Kaieteur News last week reported that an employee of the NPTAB was allegedly caught on camera taking bid documents out of a room at the agency and that Minister of Finance Winston Jordan said an internal probe was being undertaken.
Head of the NPTAB Berkeley Wickham referred this newspaper to Minister within the Ministry of Finance Jaipaul Sharma.
Sharma said the investigations of the allegations are being spearheaded by Finance Secretary Michael Joseph.
“The matter is being investigated by the FS [Finance Secretary]…,” Sharma told Stabroek News yesterday.
Efforts to contact Joseph proved futile as staff at the Ministry of Finance said that he is currently out of the country.
Corbin said the PPC does not have all the facts as yet but pointed out that the PPC has been routinely observing tender openings and other NPTAB activities. She said that her commission has been working with the NPTAB to improve the effectiveness of the agency.
This newspaper had caught up with Corbin at one of the weekly NPTAB tender opening sessions that she went to observe.
“As part of the PPC’s monitoring function, we have been routinely observing the practices of NPTAB, particularly tender opening sessions and have made recommendations for improvement where necessary. NPTAB had informed us about additional measures put in place to ensure the security of tenders. The installation of cameras and other security measures might have assisted the discovery of the alleged breach. In conclusion, the PPC does not yet have all the facts,” she said.
The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board was established in accordance with Section 16 (1) of the Procurement Act 2003, which came into effect in November, 2004.
The main functions assigned to the NPTAB under Section 17 of the Procurement Act 2003 are: The processing of all procurements above the thresholds laid down for the ministerial, regional, departmental and district tender boards, which involve: bid openings, nomination of evaluation committees, review of evaluation reports, preparation of Cabinet memoranda, issuing approvals, policy assistance, capacity building and monitoring in the areas of issuance and dissemination of the Act, regulations, directives, procedures and standard bidding documents.
