Over the past four months, billions of dollars in government contracts have been awarded and to date none of the details have been made public, with even some companies that submitted bids being left in the dark about the final decisions, in breach of the procurement laws.
While the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) has been making public the minutes from the opening of bids, there has been no follow up on the awards of the contracts and the associated costs to the taxpayer and the country.
The health care sector, in particular, has seen procurement scandals under both the PPP/C and the former APNU+AFC administrations, with medical emergencies being cited on many occasions as the justification for the sole-sourcing of supplies.
The award of contracts for the procurement of medical supplies by the Ministry of Health and the procurement of pharmaceuticals by Georgetown Public Hospital have come under scrutiny from some of the bidders, who are still awaiting notice of the awards.
Sources close to the process informed this newspaper that three companies were awarded billion-dollar contracts by the Ministry of Health and three by the GPHC, with the smallest of the three for the latter only being awarded because it is the sole distributor for one of the products required.
Calls to the Chairman of NPTAB were not answered, while attempts to contact the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health Malcolm Watkins were also unsuccessful.
In November of last year, the invitation for bids were announced by the Ministry of Health and the GPHC.
The ministry, which sought to procure COVID-19 medical supplies, stated that bidding would be conducted through the National Competitive Bidding procedure as per the Procurement Act of 2003.
Some of the items required were infrared thermometers, pulse oximeters, goggles, face shields, particulate respirators, face masks, shoe covers, insolation theatre gowns, protective medical coveralls, disposal gloves, disposable lab coats, surgical gowns, and pleated bouffant caps.
The evaluation criteria stated that the bidders must “demonstrate experience and technical capacity by providing documentary evidence that shows the supply of goods/services similar to the items in the requirement schedule”.
Bidders had to also “provide copies of contracts with previous clients or copies of valid invoices showing items supplied to clients” and “demonstrate the experience of supplying goods/services to a minimum” value set out.
The bids were opened on November 18th and among the bidders was the Trinidad and Tobago firm Western Scientific, which had been previously blacklisted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). A Board of Inquiry had recommended that Guyana also blacklist the company.
The APNU+AFC had come in for strong criticism in 2017 when it single-sourced a contract, valued $134 million, to the company that the IDB had blacklisted for fraudulent practices.
Western Scientific was also one of a number of companies identified in Parliament by former Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence as having delivered expired or nearly expired drugs to the ministry. The bid was in two lots at US$27.8M and US$31.5M respectively.
Bids were also submitted by New GPC ($5.6 billion), Food Maxx ($924 million) Products Unlimited Distributors
($3 billion), SS&T International (US$1.4 million), GK Professional Management Service ($171 million), K&P Project Management Company ($520 million), VSH United Guyana Inc. ($28.7 million) , Memorex Enterprise ($3 million), Pro Warehouse Services Corp ($4 million), Patal Inc. ($1.3 billion), Max Construction General Supplies ($39.3 million), Yufie Enterprise ($5.8 billion), ADM Labs ($102.4 million), Meditron Inc. ($7.3 billion), Agatha General Consultants ($22 million), Global Health Care ($3.4 billion), Rigenom International Inc. Changzhou Nanfang Medical Company ($4.4 billion) and Car Care Enterprise ($214.5 million).
This newspaper reached out to some of the companies to enquire if they have been told of the award. Not wanting their names to be published for fear of victimisation, those contacted all said that that they had yet to be notified.
The Procurement Act at Section 43 stipulates that all bidders be contacted on the status of the award, including the winning bid.
Meanwhile, as it pertains to the GPHC contract, bidders were invited to submit tenders to supply medical supplies to the institution for the period January 2021 to December 2021.
Extensive list
The GPHC supplied an extensive list that included plaster of paris, vaginal swabs, disposable shavers, digital thermometers, stomach feeding tubes, auto clave tape, intubating stylets, syringes oxygen masks, sensory testing monofilament and nebulizer sets.
Bidders were asked to prepare samples to show to the evaluators.
On Friday, December 11th, 2020, this newspaper reported on the opening of bids.
Companies bidding were KD Enterprise ($94 million), Cares Worth Medical Center ($13.6 million), new GPC ($190 million), GO Shepard Investments ($6.2 million), K&P Project Management Inc. ($416.2 million), NETCOM ($49.7 million), Medipharm ($59.4 million), International Pharmaceutical ($129 million), DeSinco Trading ($633.2 million), Meditron Inc ($252.3 million), Massy Distribution Guyana Ltd ($1.5 million) and Western Scientific (US$1.7 million).
For the procurement of pharmaceutical supplies, the bidders were WPG Health Care Solutions ($36 million), Chirasyn Discovery ($139.8 million), Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital ($111.4 million), Medipharm Inc ($137.6 million), KD Enterprise ($56.3 million), Goram Enterprise ($265.3 million), Massy Distributors ($42.8 million), Global Health Care Supplies ($366.1 million), Mike’s Pharmacy ($189.4 million), ANSA McAL ($958.3 million), New GPC ($1.5 billion) and BPI Guyana Inc. ($100 million).
This newspaper reached out to the GPHC but officials there did not want to speak on record. However, one source said that while the procuring agency was the GPHC, all processes were handled by the NPTAB.
Some bidders have questioned the process, while saying they were never contacted again after depositing their tenders into the NPTAB box and it was only when they reached out to the GPHC that they were told that the contract was awarded on December 31st, 2020.
“We were told that a committee was established on Old Year’s day and on the very Old Year’s day the contract was awarded,” one company representative said when contacted.
“I heard that [name of company given] was one company that got. I later learned that it was only because they alone here have the items needed that they were pulled in but for a small percentage of the contract because only that they have to do,” another company official said.
“I kept calling after me ain’t hear anything and then last week I was made to understand that the contract gone and [names of companies given] win. I was shocked because no one called about inspecting the items as stipulated in the bidding document. All of our samples are still here. How can this be? How do you expect persons to trust the systems in place when the simple requirements and criteria set out [aren’t] being adhered to by the very officials that placed them there? How is this fair to the small suppliers that one and two big suppliers are getting everything? There is no place for the small suppliers,” one businessman lamented.
