The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) yesterday cited a “possible typographical error” as being behind the $858 million bid that had been listed for Mohamed’s Enterprise for the construction of the Guyana Fire Service Headquarters on Homestretch Avenue.
The $858m figure, which was $210m above the engineer’s estimate, prompted a news item in the July 7th Sunday Stabroek querying how Mohamed’s had been awarded the contract under the circumstances.
Last evening, after promising for several days that it would issue a statement, the NPTAB said that the $858m which forms part of its record at the opening of the bids was a possible typographical error. It said that the official and winning bid from Mohamed’s Enterprise was $614.5m and this was $34m below the engineer’s estimate.
NPTAB’s suggestion of a typographical error will raise further doubts about what is transpiring in the procurement system.
“The Read-out price at the time of the bid opening as announced from the bid page, which shows $858,788,980 in figures (was) a possible typographic error, reflected in the minutes and stated in the Stabroek News article instead of $614,521,774 which was stated in words”, it said yesterday.
In the statement last evening, NPTAB said that it had noted the article titled ‘Mohamed’s Enterprise bid $210M above engineer’s estimate but still got contract for fire station HQ,’ dated July 7th, 2024, in the Stabroek News and wished to provide clarifications: 1.The award of the Contract for the Fire station Head Quarters was done for the amount of $614,521,774 which is $34 million below the engineer’s estimate.
The agency noted also that, “The documents were then given to the three-person independent evaluating team to conduct the evaluation. All bids were checked for administrative compliances and all Bills of Quantities were tabulated to avoid any arithmetic errors. At this stage it was discovered that Mohamed’s Enterprise bid was $614,521,774 as correctly stated in their detailed Bill of Quantity in their original bid document which was then used in the final evaluation process.”
“The evaluation team recommended Mohamed’s Enterprise as the lowest evaluated bid, meeting all the criteria and experience required, at the price of $614,521,774. A contract award was done for this amount and a contract was subsequently entered. The Ministry of Home Affairs last year, included some additional works (outside of the original scope) to the existing contract, taking the amount to $635,527,894, all of which was done in accordance with the procurement regulations.”
NPTAB said that it “wishes to thank Stabroek News for the opportunity to provide clarity on this matter.”
Prior to securing the contract, Mohamed’s Enterprise had not built something similar to the fire station.
The minutes of the tender opening for October 26, 2021, for the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) Headquarters contract, has that Mohamed’s bid was some $858.7 million while the Engineer’s Estimate was $648 million, (see https://www.npta.gov.gy/wp-content/uploads/Tender-Evaluation-Details-October-26-2021-1.pdf)
This newspaper reported this on Sunday and on Monday, Mohamed’s Enterprise disputed that sum, stating it was wrong as it bid $614 million and was paid $614 million.
The company also disclosed that it did some $200 million in additional works on the project and this was rejected by the Ministry of Home Affairs, although its receipts and works were cleared by engineers. And although the ministry said it would pay $21 million of the $200 million sum, it did not honour that amount, as to date, they have not received “a blind cent.”
“I signed for $614 million, was paid $614 million, [and] did $202 million in extra work. The min [ministry] refused to even discuss it…,” Nazar Mohamed of Mohamed’s Enterprise had told Stabroek News on Monday.
Father and son businessmen, Nazar Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed, along with the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas, were last month sanctioned by the United States Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for corruption.
Toussaint Jr Thomas was the Permanent Secretary in 2021, at the time the estimated $614 million project was awarded to the Mohameds for the construction of the new Guyana Fire Service headquarters on Homestretch Avenue, in Georgetown, and for one lot of work at the Lusignan prison. Prior to these contracts Mohamed’s Enterprise had not engaged in this type of construction work.
