Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha says he will meet today with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) amidst a statement by the procurement commission that the NDIA is not co-operating on the question of the controversial pump station contract awarded to Tepui Inc.
He told Stabroek News on Wednesday “I have a meeting with the NDIA team on Friday to find out what are the documents to be sent to the Procurement Commission and I will ensure that they have the documents they need”.
The contract for the Belle Vue Pump Station has come under fire for breaches of procurement guidelines. Chairman of the NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth, in response to inquiries on Wednesday, also stated to Stabroek News that the issue of the response to the procurement commission is currently under review.
In its summary of findings following the investigation of a complaint by MP David Patterson over the award of the contract, the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) had pointed to failures in the evaluation of the Tepui bid but had said that privity of contract issues prevented it from taking more decisive action.
It however urged the procuring entity, the NDIA to supply periodic updates and to move to terminate the contract if the work was unsatisfactory.
The procurement commission in reply to questions from Stabroek News, says it has not received any updates from the NDIA on the controversial pump station contract awarded to Tepui Inc and it has therefore raised this matter with Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha.
Recommendation VII in the PPC’s report of April 16, 2024 stated:
“VII. The contract for the subject tender having been entered into, it is recommended that the procuring entity strictly monitor the performance of the contract and if the awarded bidder TEPUI is found in breach, that the necessary steps, including termination if considered to be prudent, be taken to ensure that value for money is achieved. In light of NPTAB’s disclosure as to the other three (3) pump stations, to wit, ‘Jimbo, Meten Meer Zorg and (Pouderoyen)’ which were advertised and evaluated at the same time as the subject tender herein, Belle Vue, also “lacked prior experience specifically in pump station construction” but were deemed to have “had completed a project of a similar nature” and therefore the “same leniency was applied”, the recommendation herein also applies to those pump stations. The commission pursuant to its constitutional mandate, functions and powers shall exercise oversight in this regard”.
Nearly three months after its report and the call for strict monitoring and its warning that it will exercise oversight, the PPC says that no information has been supplied by the NDIA, hence its recourse to the subject Minister, Mustapha.
The PPC has complained in several investigative reports that procuring entities and the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) have ignored requests for information or supplied it very late or incompletely.
The award of a pump station contract to the unqualified Tepui, whose principal, Mikhail Rodrigues is known to have close connections with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and other members of the PPP/C administration sparked a furore.
