Dear Editor,
I note a letter from Joel Bhagwandin in yesterday’s SN titled “The summary of the PPC’s Tepui contract findings indicates that there was no breach of the Procurement Act” which explains the rationale behind their recent report. This is a surprising claim by a Commissioner of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) since Section 39 (2) of the Procurement Act states “The Evaluation Committee SHALL, using ONLY the evaluation criteria outlined in the tender documents, evaluate all tenders, determine which tenderer has submitted the lowest evaluated tender….” The Procurement Act is clear and unambiguous that only the criteria in the tender documents can be used to determine the successful bidder – there is no provision for “leniency”. Therefore, any such actions are in breach of the Procurement Act. The public position of this Commissioner aptly sums up the state of the PPC and Guyanese should be worried when activities outside of the Procurement Act are not considered a breach.
Sincerely,
David Patterson
