Overpaid contractors should not be getting more contracts – Bulkan

…says situation being addressed

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has uncovered several cases of contractors who have been overpaid by regional authorities continuing to be awarded contracts although they have not refunded the sums overpaid, thus Central Government is adamant that it has a responsibility to prevent continuation of this unsavoury situation.
Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan was asked about contractors who, despite being overpaid tax payers’ money, are still being given further contracts. There have been at least two such cases for the year coming to light when the PAC met with Regional Executive Officers (REO) in different regions.
“This is being addressed,” he explained. “It’s a serious issue that we have to deal with. I think a lot of the payments have to do with earlier issues, going back to the previous Government. But we have a responsibility to ensure that those contractors being overpaid, they don’t participate.”
Bulkan noted that the Ministry is aware of the cases and would take measures to eradicate the practice.
Asked specifically what steps are being taken to address overpayment of contractors and to ensure that sums of money budgeted for regions are being used in ways they were intended to be used, the minister reiterated that “the situation is being addressed”.
“But this is nothing new,” he declared. “This is an inheritance. Both of these issues are inherited issues. We know (of) contractors who have been overpaid (sums of money, but) who have not responded (to requests that they return the overpayments, yet they) continue participating (in bidding for government contracts). We don’t want that (situation to continue); we want to step aside or purge ourselves of that situation. We are committed to high standards of public accountability and transparency,” Bulkan said.
“I think our track record speaks for itself; and it is a proud one, and it differs from (that of) our predecessors,” he contended.
The issue of contractors being overpaid came to the forefront in the wake of several PAC meetings in Parliament Chambers, and several regional officials have being grilled by the Committee over red flags raised by the Auditor General’s 2015 Report.
At a PAC meeting on April 10, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) REO, Gavin Clarke, told the gathering that the national budget’s resources for the procurement of drugs for Region 10 were not meant to be spent.
However, it was brought to the attention of the Committee that there was a severe shortage of several drugs in Region 10 and the money set aside for the purchase of drugs had already been utilised.
Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) REO, Rafel Downes, was questioned about overpayment to contractors, and could not provide answers regarding the measures being taken to rectify the situation. Downes has been advised to have the region’s attorney write the defaulting contractors in an effort to recover the sums of money owed.
One PAC member also highlighted that at least five of the 11 delinquent contractors had tendered for, and been awarded, additional contracts at the REO’s office, although they had not repaid what they owed the region.
PAC Chairman Irfaan Ali has deemed unacceptable this situation in which the regional authorities continue to be recalcitrant in going after these overpayments.
In February 2016, Leslie Wilburg, REO of Region One (Barima-Waini), was questioned by the PAC about some $30 million in overpayment made to contractors in 2010 and 2011.
He had stated that those contractors had been written to, informing them of the sums of money overpaid to them. But when Wilburg claimed to have sought legal advice from the Communities Ministry in relation to this situation, things went downhill.
The PAC ascertained from Permanent Secretary Emil McGarrel of the Communities Ministry that letters Wilburg had sent to the contractors had been copied to the PS, but no legal advice had actually been sought.
This, and the fact that some of the overpaid contractors were still doing work for Region One, had caused Ali to put Wilburg out of the Parliament Chambers while the PAC was in session.