Chairman of the NPTAB, Tarachand Balgobind said on Wednesday that he has acknowledged the criticisms of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) in its summary of findings regarding the tender board’s timely submission of documents and is working to acquire a robust “electronic records” management system.
As in the case of the awarded $865 million contract for the pump station at Belle Vue (West Coast Demerara) to inexperienced company Tepui Group Inc. R Kissoon complained to the PPC on January 24, 2023 that its bids for the maintenance and servicing of drainage and irrigation pumps were unsuccessful even though they were the lowest for two lots and met all of the requirements. The NPTAB did not supply documents as requested or did so very late.
Balgobind when contacted by Stabroek News said the NPTAB is working with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to procure an advanced and reliable electronic system where information can be disseminated expeditiously.
He said the NPTAB welcomed the PPC’s review of the awarding of a contract for the construction of the pump station at Belle Vue, West Bank Demerara, Region 3, and the report issued on 16th April 2024.
The Chairman referred this newspaper to a statement following the release of the PPC’s Summary of Findings on the award of a pump station contract to Tepui Inc.
“The NPTAB remains fully committed to working closely with its evaluation committees to ensure scrutiny of bids and strict adherence to the evaluation criteria. Moreover, the NPTAB reiterates the importance of procurement entities drafting evaluation criteria that clearly outline all relevant issues for evaluators to analyze and make recommendations”, the release said.
“NPTAB also notes the need to eliminate inconsistencies, where they exist, in the instructions to bidders. This recommendation is aligned with ongoing reforms being undertaken currently and will be implemented through
collaboration with the PPC to strengthen bidding documents, particularly when tenders are advertised in lots. Additionally, the NPTAB has commenced two consultancies to strengthen records management and develop a public procurement management system. Both will introduce information technology solutions to current processes and procedures and pave the way for a robust e-procurement system”, the statement said.
On Wednesday this newspaper reported that it took eight months for the PPC to throw out a complaint by R Kissoon Contracting Services over a bid for D&I pumps but more irregularities have surfaced in the tendering system including errors by the evaluation committee and the signing of the disputed contract on January 1st 2023, a national holiday.
The PPC discovered based on the documents submitted to it that the Evaluation Committee of the NPTAB said R Kissoon was non-responsive on three of the criteria and its bids were therefore thrown out. However, the PPC found that R Kissoon could possibly only have been deemed non responsive in relation to one guideline and had actually complied with the other two.
This discovery will raise further questions about the arbitrary conduct of the evaluation committees of the NPTAB and how certain contractors could be favoured over others. Despite having failed several guidelines, including the requirement to have previously built a pump station, the evaluation committee admitted the bid of Tepui Inc as responsive. Tepui was later awarded the contract and this has triggered a major controversy.
