APNU+AFC Member of Parliament David Patterson yesterday said that the procurement commission has not responded to the opposition’s request for an urgent meeting to discuss the controversial award of a pump station contract to a company that did not qualify and other matters.
He told the Sunday Stabroek that the Parliamentary opposition on Thursday wrote a letter seeking an urgent meeting with the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) for an update on its activities since the organization’s re-establishment in July 2022. The PPC has been blistered for wasting time while complaints have been lodged with it.
In the letter seen by the Sunday Stabroek, the opposition while noting its support of public trust and confidence in the work of the Commission, saw the request for a meeting as an opportunity to enhance a collective approach to public procurement matters.
The letter said that opposition functionaries are seeking a status update on the complaints that are before the Commission.
“This is also in light of the complaints lodged by the Parliamentary Opposition MPs and some of which were bought to our attention by complainants”, the letter said.
“As a parliamentary opposition, we want to be a part of the solution wherever possible”, the letter said, adding “We are available to meet with you at any mutually convenient date and time”.
“Thanking you in advance, for your anticipated prompt and positive response as we seek to support the commission in its mission “To promote transparency, competition, equity, the achievement of value for money, sustainability, and environmental best practices in the Public Procurement System”, the letter concluded.
Patterson also said that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) have not responded to the procurement commission’s request for information on the controversial award of the $865m Belle Vue pump station contract to the Tepui Group which was not eligible as it has not completed similar projects.
“I wrote the public procurement commission Monday requesting an update on the status of the contract and based on what I was told neither NPTAB nor NDIA responded to these letters”, he told this newspaper.
This newspaper was reliably informed that letters dated October 6th were sent by the PPC to the NPTAB and the NIDIA on the Tepui contract. Both were given five days to respond to the request for information.
Sources say that the PPC asked for information that led to the award to Tepui, noting a request for an investigation had been made by Patterson.
According to the sources, the PPC is seeking a copy of the tender document, all tenders that were submitted for the project, the report of the evaluation committee and all other such relevant documents related to the tender.
The PPC also wants to see the contract award decision, the contract that was entered into and if not, confirmation of this.
The procurement commission also enquired about the date of the publication of the contract award. It is also seeking information from the NDIA on whether Section 39 (3) of the Procurement Act, Cap. 73:05 was complied with i.e. whether as the procuring entity the NDIA considered the report of the evaluation committee and gave approval or disapproval prior to the contract award.
For the NPTAB, the PPC asked whether in accordance with Section 39 (3) the report of the Evaluation Committee was sent to the procuring entity (NDIA) for their approval or disapproval prior to the contract award.
The PPC letters were signed by its chair Pauline Chase and were dispatched to Dr Tarachand Balgobin, Chairman of the NPTAB and Dave Hicks, Chief Executive Officer (ag) of the NDIA.
This newspaper visited the Public Procurement Commission and requested an update on whether a probe was launched, to which the organization’s secretary said that Chase is the only person authorized to speak on the subject and not Chief Executive Officer Michael Singh. Stabroek News had previously been told that Singh would engage with the media. Efforts to contact Chase proved futile.
The PPC has been criticized repeatedly by Patterson for not addressing concerns and other matters raised in the public domain despite the fact that it was fully constituted in July 2022 and a chair and deputy chair named.
Stabroek News also paid a visit to NPTAB to inquire if the necessary information was provided but was told that the tender board administration’s CEO was on sabbatical and is expected to return tomorrow.
Attempts to contact NDIA CEO (ag) Hicks on the subject also proved futile as his phone went unanswered.
Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran like Patterson was highly critical of the contract awarded to Tepui Group deeming it flawed, as not only should the company have been disqualified for not meeting the bidding criteria but the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) erred when it lumped two other contracts to the award.
Goolsarran explained that from his analysis, “there has been a violation of the Procurement Act as regards the award of the contract for the construction of sluice/pump station at Belle View as well as the other two pump stations at Meten-Meer-Zorg and Jimbo.
“As regards the Belle Vue pump station, the system appeared to have been manipulated to facilitate the award of the contract to Tepui Group Inc,” Goolsarran said
According to the bidding documents for the project which were opened on June 27 this year, and seen by this publication the project was for a pump station at Belle Vue on the West Bank of Demerara. The engineer’s estimate was also for that project alone, so NPTAB still has to explain how three awards were handed out from among the same bidders when it was not a project divided into lots.
In response to a public advertisement last May for the construction of the sluice and pump station at Belle Vue, there were 26 bids. The highest bidder was Nabi Construction Inc. with a bid price of $1,181, 867,183 while the lowest bidder was Gavco Construction & Supplies Inc. with a bid price of $740,584,800. Tepui Group’s bid was $865,543,500. Seventeen other bidders had bid prices lower than that of Tepui. The Engineer’s Estimate was $779,198,584.
Following Patterson’s disclosure of the letter to the PPC, the NPTAB issued a statement defending the award, contending that: (I) 13 of the 26 bids were deemed non-responsive and were therefore not considered; (ii) the lowest and second lowest responsive bidders were awarded the contracts for the construction of the pump stations at Meten-Meer-Zorg and Jimbo, respectively; and (iii) Tepui was the third lowest responsive bidder and was awarded the contract for the construction of the pump station at Belle Vue. This explanation by the NPTAB has sparked consternation.
