Contractors schooled on tendering process

Several small contractors on Friday were schooled on the tendering process by Communities Ministry’s Permanent Secretary and Procurement Manager following several mistakes that caused their bids to become non-responsive.

The contractors were among those who bid for nine projects and due to their errors, seven of those bids were categorised as non-responsive and had to be retendered.

Errors ranged from forgetting to include the business registration; failing to submit a valid registration, National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) compliance; not signing bid declaration forms and failure to provide a list of equipment.

The Ministry’s PS, Emil McGarrell and Procurement Manager, Michael Blackman during the meeting urged the contractors to build their capacity to perform not only small contracts but much larger ones of high standards.

The PS stressed that there was no question as to the technical capabilities of the contractors but all the hiccups were avoidable and of an administrative nature.

He explained the tender process and answered questions from all of the contractors. He also informed them that the law requires the Ministry to give notification of the responsiveness of each bid and they also have a right to request the reason for their non-responsiveness.

The contractors were informed that they all will be allowed to re-tender and once compliant, seven of them, would each received a project.