After attracting cabinet attention…
DEFAULTING contractors, who have attracted the attention of Cabinet, have been placed under increased scrutiny, by having information about their poor performance put in the domain of evaluators. Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Robert Persaud told a media briefing Tuesday, that, before their bids go to the Tender Board, an evaluating team has to assess the work of the contractors.
“We have taken steps to ensure that, in the evaluation process, poor performance, non-performance, shoddy performance, whatever performance that did not meet the requirements of the contract (are) noted by the evaluators,” he explained.
Persaud said his ministry has had to deal with several who fail to fully meet the requirements of agreements and at least three such were engaged by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to work on koker doors, sluices and other structures.
He said the Agriculture Ministry has also had dealings with delinquent contractors in other sub-sectors, who were awarded contracts ranging from $5M to $20M.
Persaud explained that the contractors are not blacklisted, because, legally, that cannot be done but, rather, information on their performance is made more available to ensure that taxpayers’ monies are not improperly utilised.    
“If people are going to get value for money, if taxpayers are to get value for money, I think it would be failing in our duty if we sit here and allow people who mess up to continue to get these resources and move forward,” he said.
Persaud assured that steps will continue to be taken to ensure that contractors step up to their obligations.
“We will continue to be very, very vigilant in this regard,” he stated.