The Chairman of Region Nine, Bryan Allicock, has requested that the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) investigate the award of contracts in the Region after about 40 contracts were awarded via “selective tendering”.
In a letter to the PPC seen by this newspaper Allicock alleges that of “approximately 60 projects awarded…only 18 were advertised” while the others were awarded by the Regional Tender Board via selective tendering.
He goes on to claim that the contracts “were only awarded to supporters of the Coalition Government” while contractors who had paid for compliances were not considered.
“Information received from [a] reliable source [states] that most of these contractor who were considered under the selective tendering do not have valid compliances,” the letter reads before concluding that the Regional Democratic Council believes that this is a total violation of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board Act and therefore seeks an urgent intervention.
Allicock has also referred to the PPC a complaint from Cyril Anthony the Toshao of Parikwarunau Village, South Central Rupununi.
According to Allicock the chain link fence surrounding the Parikwarunau Primary School was removed by persons unknown to the Toshao who had entered the village without reporting to either Anthony or the Village Council.
The Chairman added that following enquiries it was learnt that a named contractor had removed the fence without the village’s permission.
Further enquiries to ascertain whether the Department of Public Works had issued this contractor a contract for repair of the fence revealed that the department was unaware of any contract being issued.
In the letter Allicock provides no information supporting a belief that the Regional Tender Board has issued a contract in relation to Parikwarunau Primary but labelled the incident “another glaring fraudulent act of misappropriation in the manner in which contracts are being awarded in the region.”
He goes on to request an urgent investigation into this “malpractice.”
