The Education Ministry, in December of 2020, signed five contracts before they were awarded at the level of the Ministerial Tender Board (MTB) resulting in the continuous breach of the Procurement Act of 2003, according to Auditor General Deodat Sharma.
The findings were contained in the Auditor General’s report for the 2020 financial year, which was laid in the National Assembly on December 13.
When contacted, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said that she became aware of the issue when it was raised by the Auditor General during their investigation. She added that there is an explanation behind the signing of the contracts before being awarded.
“There is an explanation but I cannot remember all of the details right now but there is an explanation even though I may not be happy with it. I would have to sit down with you (Stabroek News) and the PS (Permanent Secretary of the Ministry) and share with you the details because he is the one that have them. I do not have them at this time,” Manickchand said last evening.
Under the heading ‘education subventions and grants’, the Ministry awarded a $1.933 million contract for repairs to the Queen’s College living quarters on December 31, 2020, but an examination of the contract document revealed that it was signed on December 02, 2020, some 29 days before its award. The Auditor General said that that represents a breach of the procurement act and further found that the contract was signed for $1.982 million which is $49,139 more than the awarded sum.
Sharma reported that the Superintendent of Works certified the works as satisfactorily completed on December 28, 2020 – 3 days before the award of the contract – and the full sum of $1.943 million was approved for payment on December 17, 2020. That means that the payment was approved 14 days before the contract was even awarded and the payment was made on January 29, 2021.
The Auditor General’s report said that physical verification of the works, conducted on June 7, 2021, showed that the old windows were removed and replaced with new aluminium sliding windows, installation of new doors, repairs to cupboard and tiling works, painting of the building and rainwater installations were completed.
“However, two of the windows installed were smaller than that which was specified in the quotation, while none of the internal pinewood panel doors installed was painted, as specified in the contract, despite (this), the works were certified satisfactorily completed by the Superintendent of Works on the 28 December 2020,” the AG’s report stated.
Linden Technical Institute
The Ministry of Education signed four contracts for repairs to the Linden Technical Institute (LTI) in Region 10 during the month of December 2020. However, all of those contracts were signed before being awarded.
The first contract was awarded on December 14, 2020, to the tune of $2.918 million for repairs to LTI’s admin building, mechanical and welding workshop. However, the actual contract was signed seven days before on December 07. Additionally, the date of commencement of the works and the engineer’s estimate was not seen by the Auditor General.
Nevertheless, a final valuation of works completed was seen along with the final payment certificate which was prepared and certified for payment on the same date the contract was signed.
The Auditor General said that with no engineer’s estimate provided, it remains unclear as to how the Ministry determined that the contractor’s quoted prices were fair and reasonable at the time, while the contractor did not cater for any defects liability period.
“Physical verification carried out on 8 June 2021 revealed that an overpayment of $821,000 was made to the contractor based on the measurements and calculations of the completed works,” the report stated.
On December 21, 2020, another contract was awarded for repairs to the roof of the institute to the sum of $2.985 million. The Auditor General’s examination of the contract document showed that the contract was signed on December 7 while the final payment certificate was prepared and certified for payment on the same day. That was 14 days before the actual contract was awarded.
Additionally, the AG said that the date of commencement of the works could not be determined from the examined documents, nor was there an engineer’s estimate. The ministry made the payment on January 25, 2021, and a June 8 verification exercise found that the contractor received $120,000 in overpayment.
A $2.942 million contract was awarded for the repairs and maintenance works to roof over the computer lab and library at Linden Technical Institute on December 21, 2020, but examination of the contract document and payment vouchers, by the AG, revealed that the contract was signed 19 days before the award. The works were certified completed on December 12, 2020. Another contract was awarded on December 31, 2020, for maintenance works to the tune of $2.895 million but the contract signing date was not recorded.
However, the final valuation of the completed works was dated 29 December 2020 which is 2 days before the award of the contract.
“The works completion certification was signed on the 30 December 2020 before the date the contract was awarded. The physical verification carried out on the 8 June 2021 on the completed works, measurement and calculations reflect no discrepancies,” the report stated.
In response to the findings, the Ministry promised to ensure that better systems are in place to prevent a recurrence.
Additionally, the AG said that the Ministerial Tender Board, for the period under review, awarded three contracts on the same date for a total sum of $20.514 million to complete works on the New Central High School and accused the Ministry of “contract splitting”, a longstanding illegal practice in government accounts.
The Auditor-General said, “The Ministerial Tender Board limit being $8M it is of the view that the Ministry was involved in contract splitting to facilitate the awarding of the contracts by the Ministerial Tender Board, in breach of Section 14 of the Procurement Act of 2003 which clearly states that ‘A procuring entity shall not split or cause to split contracts or divide or cause to divide its procurement into separate contracts where the sole purpose for doing so is to avoid the application of any provision of this Act or any regulations made thereunder”.
The contracts were awarded for the rehabilitation of the New Central High School.
