Bidders vying for the contract to construct the $346 million Bamia Primary School in Linden were required to show that they had experience in work of similar scope, raising further questions about how a company without a track record secured the project.
The tender document, seen by the Sunday Stabroek, said bidders were required to include “…experience in works of a similar nature and size for each of the last five (5) years, and details of work underway or contractually committed.”
The contract was awarded to St8ment Investment Inc, a company without any background in construction, to the tune of $346 million. St8ment was incorporated in March of this year and its principals are Rawle Ferguson and Kerwin Bollers, of Hits and Jams Entertainment along with Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major and Kashif Muhammed of the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament. The group has been closely linked to the ruling PPP/C government.
Since taking office, the PPP/C has appointed Major as Chairman of the Guyana Tourism Authority while Muhammed is Chairman of the National Sports Commission’s board.
The awarding of the contract to St8ment has raised eyebrows and garnered criticisms from sections of society since the group has no experience in the construction industry. However, the company has rebutted by saying that it is being advised by geotechnical engineer Charles Ceres but did not say whether he would be actively involved in the execution of this project.
The tender document also asked bidders to provide a list of the qualifications and experience of the key personnel for the contracts and noted that “subcontractors’ experiences and resources shall not be taken into account in determining the bidder’s compliance with the qualifying criteria unless otherwise stated in the BDS (Bidding Data Sheet)”. Additionally, the bidders were asked to show the monetary value of construction works performed over a five-year span along with audited financial statements for the last three years if they are an incorporated company.
St8ment Investment is new in the industry and though its principals have claimed to be working on a housing project, they have not released any details about such.
The project is being undertaken by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and in July of this year, the bids were opened. Four companies – Bulkan Timber Works Inc ($349,595,065), St8ment Investment Inc ($346,327,748), Orin’s Supreme Enterprise ($348,726,772) and A Nazir & Son Contracting & General Supplies ($340,549,671) – bid for the project.
The contract was awarded to St8ment Investment Inc whose bid was $5,778,077 higher than the lowest bid and $9,837,739 lower than the engineer’s estimate of $356,165,487.
Two Mondays ago, the Ministry of Local Government facilitated the signing of the contract between St8ment Investment and Region Ten’s (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) Regional Executive Officer (REO) Dwight John.
Though the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region 10 is listed as the employer in the tender document, RDC Chairman Derron Adams was excluded from the signing of the contract. He has since criticised the move, labelling the signing exercise as “disingenuous”.
According to the tender document, the company awarded the contract was supposed to submit a work execution schedule one week after signing the contract. The Sunday Stabroek has been unable to confirm this was done.
The project is expected to last for 20 months and would benefit almost 800 students. Additionally, a one-year defects liability period, after the completion of works, is catered for.
“The penalty to be paid by the contractor for delay of the completion of works [is] 0.05% of the contract sum per day. The maximum amount of liquidated damages for the whole of the works is 10% of the final contract price,” the document states.
The Official Gazette, published on May 29, 2021, listed St8ment Investment Inc among 425 companies that “upon request have been removed from the register pursuant to s 487 (b) Chapter 89:01”. However, St8ment Investment Inc Director Ferguson subsequently told this newspaper that the company was active and there was a “glitch” with the Commercial Registry.
Further investigation by this newspaper revealed that on July 3, 2021, the Official Gazette published the same list of 425 companies as being issued with a “Certificate of incorporation under the provisions of Section 479 (1) (b) (v) of the Companies Act of 1991.”
Bids were opened on July 27, 2021.
When asked whether the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) investigated the company being initially struck off the register, its Chairman, Tarachand Balgobin, related that its evaluators are not required to conduct due diligence.
“The evaluators, they are not required to do the due diligence on the persons that bid. They would presume that it is a valid company because of the company registration and so on would normally be included in the bid. Essentially what would happen is if the company did include that (their registration) in their bid the evaluators would assume that it is correct,” he had explained.
Harold Bulkan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bulkan Timber Works Inc, has since questioned what exactly the NPTAB is evaluating when considering bids. “St8ment Investment Inc was awarded the contract and I reckon in 20 months the public will judge for themselves if this was the correct decision by the Honourable Minister for Local Government and Community Development. I know the residents of Linden and the surrounding areas will be paying attention to the construction of this school,” Bulkan wrote in a letter to the editor of this newspaper.
St8ment Investment has said that it is currently hiring construction workers for the commencement of the project. It has not released any additional information relating to the project.
Calls to Regional Chairman Adams’ phone, for an update on the commencement of the project, were unsuccessful.
