The comments by Attorney General Anil Nandlall: that the Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Administration inherited a governmental infrastructure that is “rotting and has decayed” over the past five years, comes as no surprise.
It is unbelievable, the quality of work that is being carried out by some contractors engaged in public infrastructure projects, most of which cost the treasury millions of dollars. All around the country, one can point to numerous examples of substandard work for which contractors were paid huge sums. In fact, in some cases, they were even overpaid.
In many cases, very little action was taken against these errant contractors by the APNU/AFC Administration for not meeting their contractual obligations, resulting in them walking scot free. In fact, some persons would even be shocked to learn that these same persons who have done poor work, or left work incomplete, were awarded additional contracts.
Year after year, the Auditor General would highlight a number of examples of substandard or incomplete work in construction projects across the country – whether they be schools, hospitals, roads, bridges etc.
The AG pointed, on more than one occasion, to some instances where projects were incomplete or left abandoned, even though contractors were already paid huge sums to do a proper job. Many had asked what actions are being taken against these contractors by the then APNU/AFC to recoup these monies, or what sort of systems have been put in place to ensure these contracting firms are debarred from bidding for future projects.
At several sittings of the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and regional officials to address several irregularities, it was pointed out that, in the past, sums of money were overpaid to contractors in mobilisation fees – which is a fraction of the contractual cost that is paid to the contractor to get his/her equipment to the site where the project is to be implemented. In some cases, sums of money over the standard or required amount are paid to the contractor, and the works are still not completed.
This certainly is unacceptable. And while tax payers have used different forums to complain previously, the relevant agencies have a duty to ensure that public monies are well spent and accounted for.
From what is gathered, there were several lapses in the national procurement system under the APNU/AFC administration, which this new Government needs to correct urgently. For example, it is clear that there are poor monitoring and reporting mechanisms in place to ensure contracting firms carry out works as per contractual agreement. Also, there seems to be no strict policy to penalise and/or debar contractors for failing to meet their contractual obligations.
Prior to coming out of office, the then Public Infrastructure Ministry, which is now the Public Works Ministry, had said it was in the process of establishing a database which would keep a track record of the number of projects awarded to local contractors, and their performance with respect to each. It would also be helpful if procuring entities keep a proper record of the performance of companies with regard to projects awarded. This could be used as an effective measure to better inform the process for selecting competent contractors to handle Government projects.
One had hoped that the relevant mechanisms would have been put in place with the aim of ensuring these lapses are corrected. The Public Works Ministry, under its new leadership, now needs to re-examine and implement effective measures for blacklisting, so that contractors who are consistently delinquent could face the requisite level of debarment. A contractor found to have a record of producing poor and incomplete work cannot, and should not, be awarded additional contracts.
