Illustrating their unpreparedness to answer questions from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) by providing poor responses as well as making repeated requests to be allowed to provide information at a later date, the representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs were on Monday asked to “go and come again”.
Whilst scrutinising the Auditor’s General 2017 and 2018 reports, questions were raised concerning the full payment that was made for the supply of drugs and medical supplies for the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory without the items being delivered in full.
Minister of Public Works and PAC member Juan Edghill, who was the first to raise questions on the $16.9 million contract awarded to Caribbean Medical Supplies, asked what led to the decision for the contractor to be paid in full before completing the order. No clear response was given and it was during a series of follow up questions that the Ministry revealed that the contractor had taken out a bond to cover the advance payment.
However, the accounting officer at the Ministry could not shed any light on what type of cheque was used by the bidder to secure the bond.
On this note, both the Finance Secretary Sukrishnalall Pasha and Accountant General Jennifer Chapman pointed out that accepting personal cheques for a bond is a breach of procurement procedures. It was pointed out that once it is a government-funded project, bonds should come directly from banks or other financial institutions such as insurance companies.
“I want to caution Permanent Secre-taries to please comply with the SOPs. If we continue, government will lose funds because should we have needed to encash the cheques later, the provider may not have had the cash,” the Accountant General said.
As he supported Chapman’s position, Pasha explained to the committee that if an agency wishes to accept a bond in the process they must inform the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). The procurement board, he explained, must approve the transaction before the agency can enter into the agreement.
The Ministry could also not state if a Letter of Poor Performance was sent to the bidder.
And when questions were put to the former Permanent Secretary, Daniella McCalmon, she told the committee that she was not invited to the briefing meeting and therefore was not in a position to provide any detailed answers. She added that she was only present at the PAC meeting due to the fact that she was invited by the committee. “All I know is that 50 per cent of the money was paid and after deliveries were delayed then the bond was submitted and the final payment handed over.”
However, as the committee continued to question the decision behind the agreement, it was explained that at the time of the audit only $6.1 million worth of goods was supplied in the procuring year of 2017 while the remainder was supplied in 2018 and 2019. The Ministry could not say if it was a multi-year contract.
At the time of the auditor general’s report, $10.8 million worth of goods was still to be delivered. However, the Ministry informed that goods to the tune of $14.7 million were supplied and the contractor later returned the outstanding sum to the ministry.
