The Ministry of Health (MoH) has said contracts worth a total of almost $12 billion, including some $2.1 billion of which was single-sourced, were awarded between September and December last year but the names of the awardees are still to be released, for which it claims the procurement board is responsible.
Following questions by Sunday Stabroek, the Ministry released some information on contracts from September to Decem-ber of last year but did not give the names of the companies it awarded the contracts to. It said that disclosing the names is the responsibility of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). The NPTAB has not been responsive to questions from Sunday Stabroek.
And while still not giving a figure as to how much the company got in procurement services, the MoH defended awards to Trinidadian company Western Scientific, saying that since late 2018 it had been removed from the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) blacklist of companies.
“The NPTAB usually publishes the winning bidders for each tender,” Permanent Secretary Malcolm Watkins said in response to questions from the Sunday Stabroek.
He further explained that prior to 2017, the MOH had a system to respond to all bidders, but for some reason that stopped. Watkins said that the ministry was working on a system to restart the process, required by the laws of this country.
“The MoH has not responded to unsuccessful bidders since 2017. The MoH is presently reinstituting the system to inform all bidders of the status of their bids in 2021,” Watkins stated.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh recently told this newspaper that the NPTAB was working on a portal to make public all companies and persons that have won awards. He also promised that the agency will ensure that all aspects of the Procurement Act are adhered to and that all bidders are notified of the respective awards.
It is unclear if the billions expended for various contracts since the PPP/C took office in August 2020 will also be uploaded to that portal or if it takes effect from the date of rollout.
As this newspaper previously reported, from documents seen the New GPC and Western Scientific received the lion’s share of contracts worth over $5 billion for the procurement of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies over a four-month period.
The awards were made even as some companies that submitted bids bemoaned being left in the dark about the final decisions – a breach of the procurement law.
Watkins was asked by this newspaper for information on the awards and gave a breakdown of monies expended over the period for various contracts.
“During the period Sept to Dec 2020, for contracts advertised (a) and awarded (b) : a) 31 (advertised and all awarded, amounting to $9.7B, 80 % of all awards for the period). (b)All contracts awarded – 31 advertised and 48 that were sole-sourced as emergency supplies, amounting to $2.1B),” he stated.
He explained that a further $12.8 million went to other contracts for the ministry.
Sole sourcing
Watkins was asked how many of the contracts awarded were for emergency medical supplies and he said that “virtually all procurement during this period were to meet emergency needs”.
Pressed on if there was any sole sourcing for the amounts given, he said that sole sourcing was done as the items needed were only available through the sole distributors here.
“As in first question, contracts amounting to approximately $2.1B was via sole sourcing, most of which was via sole distributorship for specialized items. These items could not have been supplied via other suppliers,” the Permanent Secretary stated.
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 recent award of contracts for the procurement of medical supplies by the Ministry of Health and the procurement of pharmaceuticals by the Georgetown Public Hospital have come under scrutiny from some of the bidders who are still awaiting notice of the awards.
In November of last year, invitations 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, theatre gowns, protective medical coveralls, disposable 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 IDB. A Board of Inquiry had recommended that Guyana also blacklist the company.
And with local pharmaceutical and drug companies here lamenting that Western Scientific has gobbled up a large percentage of all MoH contracts, Watkins defended the decision, saying that the restrictions set by the IDB were lifted since October 2018.
“While the company was barred from bidding for any contracts funded by the IDB for a period of time, Western Scientific was released from this restriction since October 15, 2018, as can be verified on the IDB website,” he said.
