THE Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday uncovered several breaches in the procurement regulations by the Region Two administration in 2019.

The discovery was made while the committee was examining the 2019 Auditor General’s report for the regional administration, where it was noted that despite several requests, no evaluation committee minutes were submitted for examination.
The report noted also that through the audit process, it was difficult to ascertain what and if any recommendations were made to the Regional Tender Board in relation to the award of contracts.

As a result, government member of the PAC, Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo questioned the former REO, Denis Jaikaran whether there were minutes, and why it was not submitted for audit examination.
Jaikaran told the committee that at the end of meetings that were held, he briefed officers from the Auditor-General’s office who were in the region, and further added that minutes were submitted.

Further to this, Dr. Mahadeo said that when documents are handed over from agency to agency, there are records, and asked whether those records or documents were provided and what procedure was followed.
While the response given by the former REO did not suffice, the Auditor-General’s office provided clarity on the report.

The officer said: “As it relates to the RDC’s procurement procedures, the awarding of contracts by the RDC, they failed to produce the evaluation criteria and the evaluation reports so the basis of determining the lowest responsive bidder was unknown They had provided tender board minutes which we looked at; the minutes just tell us who they are awarding the contract to it doesn’t tell you the basis, it doesn’t give you how many bidders.”

The officer further provided additional information in this regard which included examples of when contracts were awarded but no indication was given in relation to the evaluation.
Against this backdrop, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira said that this was a clear violation of the financial rules and noted that this should not have occurred.

The former REO was subsequently grilled on the procedures followed, as it was highlighted by some members of the committee that these acts amount to major breaches of the procurement regulations.