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He says the local procurement system is beset by a number of challenges, including the limited capacity of local contractors and a flawed tendering process.
Capacity
“In Guyana, only about four contractors have in-house capacity, or the requisite resources to efficiently conduct major construction projects; while the majority of the other contractors do not employ trained professionals,” he told the Guyana Chronicle in an exclusive interview.
As a result, he notes, the contractors with the requisite resources are given too many contracts to execute at the same time, and this is the principal reason for delays in delivery and inefficiencies in execution of contracted works.
“It’s not that the big companies don’t have the in-house personnel. They have financial resources and asset base. [What] they don’t have [is] the number of equipment to handle all these projects,” the academic avers, while naming a major company which he says has “a set of projects all over the place”, and yet another which is simultaneously undertaking “five, six, seven projects”.
Foreign contractors
Jackson recommends that measures be taken to attract foreign contractors with the requisite resources, to make up for the shortfall in local capacity. To do this, he notes, the country needs to institute frameworks that engender transparency and good governance.
“The perception of corruption is a hindrance to the participation of many foreign contractors…in the local construction industry, hence the continued lack of skill and other resources,” he explained, adding: “The contractors from abroad feel they gon have to give a small piece here and a small piece there.”
The engineer also posited that the justice system needs reform if foreign contractors are to be wooed. “Most times, foreign companies would want the judiciary system to be efficient, so that [in the event of a corporate dispute] they could get recourse and redress in a timely manner,” he iterated, adding: “But the discharge of resolution and redress with respect to our courts takes a long time.”
Local Training
Jackson also feels that more can be done locally to train engineers. However, according to him, an unfavourable “socio-economic and political environment” stymies this. For instance, he feels that government funding for the University of Guyana is “politically” motivated.
Over the years, observers have complained that inadequate funding has left the university with dilapidated labs and other infrastructure, and has also led to high staff turnover.
The government sends students to be trained in Cuba even as it is cheaper to do so here, and pays Cuban-educated engineers more than those trained at UG, Jackson claims. And he charges that these are evidence of the administration’s bias against the local university.
The department head also debunked claims, most noticeably made by the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers (GAPE), that UG graduates are poorly trained.
Observing that the majority of GAPE’s members were trained at UG, he stated: “Despite the perception of some, the University of Guyana continues to produce competent engineers and managers.”
UG officials “never receive negative comments about our graduates from UWI [the University of the West Indies]”, Jackson stressed, adding, “In fact, our graduates are the top performers at UWI’s post-graduate programmes [and] the contractors in the Caribbean readily employ our graduates.”
Tendering Process
From the bidding, through the awarding, to the monitoring of works done, Maxwell Jackson cites several discrepancies along the stages of the tendering process.
The bidding for contracts by companies, he says, is muddled by “the lack of specialized training (of company personnel) in procurement”, and difficulty in interpreting and understanding the 2003 Procurement Act. Compounding this, he adds, is the institution of new bidding procedures by various organizations, such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and World Bank, each with its own requirements.
“Your [company’s] procurement person must be very knowledgeable about these systems, or else you’re gonna run into constant problems,” he advised.
In light of the variations of these procedures, Jackson is calling for the standardization of procurement practices, as “it would be easy for contractors to understand the [standardized] process.”
As it relates to the awarding of contracts, Jackson wants a reconstituting of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC), as “the current members of the procurement commission are not professionals, and that must be changed.” He also wants these evaluators of the tender documents to be properly remunerated, as this would give them a greater incentive to more thoroughly review the bids.
Jackson complained that, oftentimes, contractors deliberately include shoddy specifications and loopholes in their bids; and because the bids are not properly scrutinized, these bids — which are usually the lower priced — are accepted; and consequently, the Government ends up agreeing to pay for substandard works.
Taking issue with the monitoring of works while they are being done, he observed that the Government subcontracts supervision of the work to local consultancies, “who themselves have weaknesses in supervising projects.”
While wondering aloud whether inspectors are being “compromised”, he emphasized that competent inspectors need to be on-site at all times when works are being done.
