The scope of works for a $187 million Lethem road project was changed after the contract was awarded, a practice that was frowned upon by the Auditor General.
According to the Auditor General’s report for 2018, in relation to the rehabilitation/construction of a road network for Lethem, the construction of drains in the form of underground concrete tubing was added to the original scope of works following a technical review by the project team.
The AG report said that a contract was signed on 9 October 2017 in the sum of $187.825 million for the project and amounts totalling $182.261 million were paid.
Though the original works included the construction of an asphalt road, road markings and signage, streetlights and open reinforced concrete roadside drains, a physical verification on 30 July 2019 revealed that the scope of the works had been changed.
Moreover, the sum of $134.407 million or approximately 72% of the funds under the contract were used for the construction of underground drainage, a change made after the award of the contract.
All prospective contractors/bidders who would have purchased tender documents, priced the bills of quantities and submitted a bid using the original scope of works, did not therefore have an equal opportunity to bid for the new scope of works, the report said.
It was also observed that despite the change in the scope of works, the contract sum of $187.825 million remained the same.
The report noted that while the original scope of works comprised six bills of quantities, the last payment made in December 2018 represented payments made for works completed and showed eight bills, two of which were for the new works.
The Audit Office has recommended that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure immediately desist from advertising or soliciting bids for a specific scope of works and then changing the scope of the works after awarding the contract; and submitting the variation order, justifications and approvals for changing the scope of works after awarding the contract.
