ISSUES of questionable transactions at the Regional Tender Review Board of Region Six were raised at the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday, after it was discovered that some $604.8 million worth of maintenance contracts were never publicly advertised.

As the meeting convened, Narindra Persaud, the Regional Executive Officer (REO), was questioned in relation to the 153 multimillion-dollar contracts that were never publicly advertised in 2017. This was under the APNU+AFC Government.

PAC member Dharamkumar Seeraj first raised the matter. He asked for clarity on the use of restricted tendering which was utilised as a means to alert contractors and suppliers of the works that were going to be undertaken.

Restricted tendering is a procurement method that limits the request for tenders to a number of suppliers, contractors or service providers, who are shortlisted through a pre-qualification or invitation by the procuring entity.

Seeraj noted that there seems to be a lack of evidence to justify why this method was used, as the precedent is that this system should be employed when works are “highly complex,” or in cases where only a limited number of contractors or suppliers have the requisite expertise or resources.

Meanwhile, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, in expressing similar sentiments called the findings, “very disturbing.”

She took issue with the fact that for 140 of the contracts which were worth some $570.1 million, this method was used without any justification of its usage.

Minister Teixeira noted that another major issue found in the procurement procedure was that the regional tender board invited a maximum of four contractors to bid for the projects.

She noted that this is especially concerning in light of the regional authorities stating that, that prequalification was done to cover the awarding of the contracts.

Teixeira disclosed that under these projects, some 140 contractors prequalified, but just four were allowed to bid. She added that this selection is cause for grave concern.