As questions continue to swirl in relation to the award of the $566.9 million contract to Kares Engineering Inc for the reconstruction of the North Ruimveldt Secondary School, a source at the national tender board told Stabroek News yesterday that despite Kares’ disastrous work on the Kato Secondary School, their hands are tied.
The source explained that the National Procurement and Tender Adminis-tration Board (NPTAB) is responsible for overseeing the procurement process but dealing with errant contractors falls within the remit of the procuring entities and the Public Procurement Commission (PPC). The source said that the NPTAB Evaluation Committee cannot consider any complaints.
“What we do at NPTAB is overseeing the procurement process and awarding contracts. If someone objects to the award or feels aggrieved then there is a mechanism for them to address that. When it comes to contractors and (questionable performance) we cannot do anything unless it is related to us.
“What needs to happen is that the procuring entity can make a complaint to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and then the contractors can be debarred from bidding for government contracts. Also where companies have been debarred by international bodies, the Public Procurement Commission can also do something called sympathetic debarment and they would be unable to bid. So it is not the NPTAB’s job to debar any contractors, we can only prevent them from bidding after the Public Procurement Commission debars them and that has been communicated to us,” Stabroek News’ source explained.
The source further explained that once the complaint is lodged then it is up to the PPC to determine the nature of the debarment and the timeframe.
“What we do is that we check the debarment register and if you are not on it then we can’t say to a bidder that you can’t bid. If you are on the register then automatically your bid will be disqualified and we do not disqualify you at the opening [of the bids]. When the evaluators come in, the Secretariat will inform them that this person has been debarred and they will check the register to verify that and to see if the period of debarment has expired,” the source said.
The bids for the reconstruction of the school were opened on June 23, 2022. Some nine companies were on record as having submitted bids for the project which is estimated to cost $622,375,321. The $566.9M contract was signed on August 24.
Back in 2012, Kares Engineering was awarded the $728 million contract for the construction of a new secondary school at Kato in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni). The new school was constructed to ease overcrowding at Paramakatoi Secondary.
The school was not occupied for a long period after it was found to be riddled with major defects after construction ended in 2015. An audit by Rodrigues Architects Limited subsequently found that the building was unsafe for children and that at least $144 million would be required to fix the defects. Kares was subsequently allowed to complete all corrective works on the school, at no cost to the government, under the supervision of Vikab Engineering, which was selected to oversee the works at a cost of $29.2 million.
The school was officially commissioned in March of 2019 – some 7 years after work started.
As it relates to Kato Secondary, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said that when the APNU+AFC government took office in 2015, the project was in its defects/liability period but no action was taken. Then President David Granger had indicated that Kares would no longer be receiving government contracts.
Back in 2016, Kares Engineering Director Radesh Rameshwar had defended the allegations against his company. In a letter to the press, he said that the school was completed within budget and built within specifications as established by the Government of Guyana.
Evaluation of Kares’ bid
According to the NPTAB’s website the following bids were received for the reconstruction of the North Ruimveldt Secondary School – Platinum Investments Inc $679,122,111; Dry Rock Construction Inc $687,163,051; QCD Con-struction Inc $521,690,454; M&P Investment $606,636,675; S&K Construction Consul-tancy Service & General Supply $595,000,000; Dundas Construction Inc $ 620,000,000; CB General Contracting Service Inc $531,787,715; Builders Hardware General Supply & Construction $614,853,630 and Kares Engineering Inc $566,975,350.
The North Ruimveldt Secondary School was destroyed by fire on June 19, 2021. The new building will measure 432ft (length) x 30ft (width) x 42ft (height). It will have three storeys and will accommodate 450 to 500 students. The school will be fitted with science laboratories, Information Technology Laboratories, new classrooms, teacher accommodation, a sanitary block and a modern external structure. The project period is 14 months.
According to Stabroek News’ source, the bid put forward by Kares would have been evaluated against the standard evaluation criteria. They explain that the standard criteria are outlined in the standard bidding document and those would have been used in the process.
“That tells exactly what a bidder is required to provide in any bid above $15 million and if there is a specialized bid of specialized nature they may add other criteria but those have to be cleared before they are added. This is not a bid of specialized nature. This bid would have been a standard procurement. It was a school that was burned down and it was being reconstructed. It falls under regular standard bidding procedures,” the source said.
According to the evaluation criteria, bidders are required to submit a valid business registration or certificate of incorporation; NIS compliance certificate; GRA compliance; tender form; priced bill of quantities; bid security which ranges depending on the value of the project; proof of financial capacity; and ownership of the equipment to execute the job.
Bidders are also mandated to demonstrate specific construction experience by providing copies of contracts with previous clients that show they have completed two contracts of similar nature, size and complexity with a minimum value of 50% of the bid amount within the last five years.
There are several other criteria that range from the demonstration of general construction knowledge to proving that they can execute the works in line with the given plans and scope.
Kares Engineering was also responsible for the construction of Guyana’s Olympic standard pool back in 2008. It was found that Kares was not making the deadlines and that the quality of work being done was less than desirable, a decision was taken to re-tender the contract for the 50-metre pool, and Kares’ responsibilities were reduced.
