Delays in procurement process hindering GWI’s efficiency – Director

Unnecessary delays in the procurement process have significantly affected the delivery of quality service to customers, according to the Managing Director of the Guyana Water Inc, Dr Richard Van West-Charles. He was at the time identifying some of the challenges the utility company faced during 2017 in the execution of their mandate.
“We have had some challenges over the year, challenges in procurement and caused significant delays in our access to pumps and spares. It caused us to

spend more money than we would not have spent if we had gone through the orderly process for purchasing but we do have problems with procurement and we have to address it in 2018 because it delays the impact of our response,” he noted.
He added that because of the delays in the procurement process, the GWI metering process had to be halted due to the shortage of meters. “We know that in some instances that the meters be replaced again we had hoped that by the end of this year we would have had 20,000 meters purchased and the installation commenced but because of a delayed procurement process, we now have to wait for 2018 to purchase these meters and this is not right,” Van West-Charles noted.
He said the procurement challenges would have caused significant delays in the access to pumps and spares.

Generic criteria
Van West-Charles added that in addition to the delayed process, sometimes the contracts would be delayed at the Cabinet level as well.
“I personally do not think that the criteria is set in a way that allows small contractors to participate in a meaningful way and when you set a system with yes and no and you have one no and you are thrown out I do not think that is a fair system,” he stated.
Additionally, he said he is of the view that the process should be modified to a point system as opposed to the current yes or no system. He added that he would have already instructed the GWI’s officers to ensure that the process is a fair and inclusive one that addresses the various criteria.
He stated that while a number of contractors are prequalified the company sees the same set of contractors over and over again with the smaller contractor being sidelined.
“We will have to ensure that they have an opportunity to participate in the process. We hope in 2018 that the evaluation committees can act a bit faster and some of the questions raised sometimes to my mind are questions that delay unnecessarily and doesn’t help the process,” the Managing Director stated.
“When you are dealing with a utility such as GWI that has existed for over 70 years, GWI should know what pumps for them, what  chemicals work so by now if you don’t know that then something is wrong,” he added.
He further stated that the generic procurement system is one that needs to be looked at since the end product is not always quite ideal for the job.
The GWI boss stressed that the procurement process should be looked at to ensure suitability for the various entities it serves.