…says local contractors not being sidelined

REGIONAL Executive Officer of Region 10, Gavin Clarke, has defended the procurement of the region amid claims that contracts were not trickling down to contractors in the area.

Recent accusations relative to this nature were reported in an article published by this newspaper, which Clarke said that as the REO of the region, he was not given a chance to respond. The article headlined, ‘Nothing Trickling Down,’ reported on the comments of many local contractors and regional officials who affirmed the position that local contractors are not benefiting from contracts being awarded at the level of the RDC.

Clarke who responded to these allegations on Monday said that his honest, hard work is being dragged through the mud and it is very disheartening that comments were taken from individuals whom he considers as his neighbours, colleagues and even my mentors.

PROCUREMENT PROCESS
Clarke said that the procurement process in Region 10 is no different from any other region as it is governed by the Procurement Act under which the authority of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) is established and those who sit on the Regional Tender Board (RTB) were deem suitably qualified; hence their appointment. “The Regional Democratic Council does not have the authority to make such appointment,” Clarke argued.

In further refuting claims of local contractors being treated unfairly, the REO said that the administration would have invited tenders, via the open tender method, to pre-qualify contractors for the construction of roads, drainage and irrigation and bridges and electrical installation.

“The evaluators stuck stringently to the criteria for these particular activities because the Administration would have conveyed its desire to obtain value for money and to have these projects executed at the highest possible quality. The same bidding document was made available to all invited to tender, with the same evaluation criteria. Any contractor who felt he/she should have been pre-qualified for a particular activity and was not, had the liberty to seek an explanation from the Administration and that would have been given,” Clarke affirmed.

As it relates to the law that 20 per cent of all government contracts should be awarded to small contractors, the Administration, he said, is well aware of this and in no way is flouting the law and believes that the local contractors, as well as the local leaders commenting on the issue, are not informed and are speaking without basis.

“Now let’s refer to the Capital Works (construction) Programme of Region 10, there were 14 projects awarded by the RTB thus far to a value of $101,582,330. Of these 14 projects, 10 were awarded to local contractors with a total value of $68,404,483. Four projects were awarded to out of town contractors to the value of $33,177,847. This means 67% of the total sum awarded by the RTB was to local contractors.

As it relates to current programmes such as line Items, maintenance of buildings, maintenance of other infrastructure across all programmes, maintenance of roads, maintenance of drainage and irrigation and maintenance of bridges, there are 242 activities that have either been completed or in progress to the value $99,688,259.

These were awarded between 110 contractors; two of these are from ‘out of town’. “This ‘out of town’ award represents 17%, while 83% to the ‘local contractors’ and there are a number of projects yet to be award which are in the procurement process.”

Short of staff
Since January 2016, four staff from the Public Works Department of the RDC are on administrative leave, receiving full pay. The administration, the REO said, is yet to receive closure on the issue and it would now be the second budget being executed for the fiscal year 2017, without the department functioning short of technical staff.

“The Works Department was reduced to two officers, an Engineer and the Superintendent of Works, I had no other choice than to support my staff since I am in site visits and preparation of Bill of Quantities for the timely delivery of our 2016 budget and we had executed more projects in 2016 than any other year by comparison,” he articulated.

“For those who have not felt or seen the impact of our 2016 budgetary allocation just need to come out of the confines of their homes or offices and walk the streets of the region….flooding has decreased significantly along Republic Avenue when it rains, as a result of the drainage network construction that commenced in 2016 at several locations and continues in 2017 with Mani Street, Wismar Street, and in a matter of weeks Potaro Road and Crabwood Street will follow.”

For 2016, the records show that between the current and capital budget 18 roads were executed and for 2017, fourteen road projects will be executed and four of these have been completed. The Administration has also repaired and rehabilitated six bridges and constructed four. “We are not perfect and there are other regions doing better than us, but we are committed to seeing continuous improvement in this Administration and so I find the article unreasonable, misleading and mischievous.”

Contractors however revealed to this publication however that there are many competent contractors in the region who are being side-lined while the bulk of the contracts are being awarded to ‘out of town’ contractors. The contractors also described the pre-qualification system as being heavily flawed and that contractors are being pre-qualified for areas not in their expertise.

Commenting on the issue were Mayor Carwyn Holland; Regional Chairman, Renis Morian; Former Interim Management Chairman, Orin Gordon; and Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira, who noted that he is aware of the concerns raised by the contractors but noted that all contractors are free to compete in the procurement process but noted the system should be fair.

Holland for his part said that he agrees that there is little trickledown effect and that contracts allocated to the region should involve more local contractors as the current situation is that outside contractors get most of the job. Morian however vehemently denied the claims saying that local contractors are not being stifled.