CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of the Small Business Bureau (SBB), Dr. Lowell Porter, has refuted claims about corruption at the bureau.
The claims were levelled by PPP/C Junior Shadow Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament, Bishop Juan Edghill, in a letter published in several newspapers. Bishop Edghill had made specific reference to a recent procurement for Partner Training Institutions (PTIs).

Dr. Porter made it clear that in April 2018, management and staff of the SBB embarked on a process to review the administrative and personnel aspects of the operations, training and development and the delivery of other services. It therefore meant that the training methods and selection of training partners had to be revised.

Dr. Porter indicated that one of the key decisions made, was to categorise the PTIs based on their specific focus areas for various levels of clients.  He further noted that the names of three training partners were offered from the approved list of evaluated training partners, as part of the revised process. The approved list of trainers, the CEO stressed, was introduced prior to his joining the bureau.

On the point of Expressions of Interest (EoI) being cancelled, Dr. Porter noted that there were some administrative issues regarding the EoI and the process; therefore, a decision was taken to cancel the process involving 13 PTIs. He insisted that none of the 13 companies had submitted proposals.

In his letter, Bishop Edghill had also intimated that a document dated November 28, 2018, requesting payment to the three training institutes was sent to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Business. This was done, he claimed, before the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) had approved. This was also repudiated by the CEO, who explained that requests for payments to the PTIs were sent to the Permanent Secretary (PS), Ministry of Business, in her capacity of Chairperson of the Ministerial Tender Board; the PS had then instructed that a new request be prepared and submitted to the NPTAB. This was done, and the requests were approved by the NPTAB on December 12, 2018.

Additionally, Bishop Edghill had suggested in his letter that the contracts were for training in Region Four, but the companies submitted invoices for training conducted in Regions Five and Six. However, Dr. Porter indicated that approvals were granted for training contracts in Regions Two, Four, Five, Six and Seven. However, no training was conducted in Region Four; there were no invoices submitted for training in that region.

The Small Business Bureau, and, by extension, the Ministry of Business takes allegations of corruption very seriously and therefore recommends that anyone who may have credible information of corruption to convey that information to the relevant authorities, so that appropriate action can be taken