Dear Editor,
In an April 23 letter which was published in SN, Dr. Muniram Budhu, Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering expressed his opinion that the Government with its new-found oil wealth has been undertaking a wide range of infrastructure projects to develop the country and improve the living standards of its people. He noted however, that its efforts in this respect have been dogged by corruption and a shortage of a skilled labour force among other impediments. To resolve many of these problems, Dr. Budhu has suggested that the Government create an Umbrella Infrastructure Programme Management Unit which will not only prevent corruption but get value for its public infrastructure investments and oversee the procurement and award of all contracts and their execution. He further suggested that this Unit be tasked with project management and be composed with a private-public partnership which would be more effective and efficient in the execution of its mandate.
The Government has already established such a Unit – the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) but its mandate needs to be expanded for it to be more effective in its functions. Contrary to Dr. Budhu’s claim, NPTAB is not an independent body but a Government established Unit and its members are appointed by the Government which lays out its policies and guidelines and uses its recommendations for such matters as contract awards and procurement.
The NPTAB has been functioning with a lot of criticism for its lack of transparency, allegations of discrimination and corruption in the award of contracts and purchase of equipment. Therefore, a review and upgrade of its mandate is urgently needed not as suggested – an Umbrella Programme Management Unit. For example, with respect to contract awards, the successful bidder should be selected as the lowest evaluated bidder and not as the lowest cost one. Bidders should be selected not only because of their low bid but because their selection takes into consideration their integrity, experience, financial capability, personnel, equipment, etc. Most of NPTAB awards have been to bidders who were the lowest ones without taking into consideration those other factors. Because of this discrepancy many of them have suffered from time, costs overruns and other factors and were unable to complete their contracts which the Government has had to take over and complete eventually.
In poor developing countries such as Guyana corruption in formulating and executing infrastructure works is endemic at all levels. An audit should therefore be carried out on all completed large infrastructures contracts to determine such factors as time and cost overruns and their causes thereof. This will provide valuable information to the Government in the preparation and execution of its infrastructure projects.
Sincerely,
Charles Sohan