THE Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) earlier this week discovered that the Region Six Regional Administration in 2019 did not follow the Procurement Act when dealing with contracts for civil works in the region.

This came to light when the committee examined the 2019 report of the Auditor General (AG) for the Region Six regional administration during its meeting on Monday.

According to the AG report, audit checks revealed that some 430 contracts to the tune of $888.7 million for both current and capital expenditures were procured through restricted tendering.
The report went on to add that perusal of the regional tender board minutes revealed that for 346 of those contracts valued at $638.4 million, the regional tender board, “had invited a maximum of three contractors and in some instances less than three, to submit tenders.”

This led the Minister of Public Works and member of the committee, Juan Edghill, to question the regional officials on this matter.

Quoting the AG’s report, he said, “The Procurement Act 2003-26 (1) (a) states that when the procurement method of restricted tendering is used the procuring entity shall invite all suppliers and contractors to submit tenders for whichever category they were qualified.”

Asked why this was not done, the former Regional Executive Officer, Kim Stephen, stated that it was not done and could not provide an explanation. However, she indicated that corrective action was to be taken.

However, the Chairman of the committee, Jermaine Figueira, indicated that this was most egregious, as the report showed that 183 contractors were evaluated and pre-qualified.
“This should not even have occurred, and this is glaring,” Figueira said.

He further expressed his opinion that contractors ought not to be excluded from a process that ought to be equitable, emphasising that such exclusion is not acceptable.

Against this backdrop, members of the committee asked that the minutes of the previous tender board for 2019 be provided to the committee for them to look further into this matter.

Meanwhile, in the AG report, the Audit Office recommended the region comply fully with the Procurement Act 2003 and, in particular, Section 26(1) to ensure the submission of tenders in the procurement proceedings from all suppliers and contractors who are qualified to participate in those proceedings.