Under APNU/AFC Coalition Govt: Contracts signed, works started without Tender Board approval – PAC hears

– acting PS admits there were breaches of procedures

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday heard explanations from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs regarding the strange case of contracts being signed by the Ministry and works starting, without Tender Board approval.
In 2017, the Auditor General had found that 13 contracts valued at $27.2 million had been entered into by the then Indigenous Peoples Affairs Ministry. Shockingly, works had started before these contracts were even approved by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).

Called upon by PAC member Dharamkumar Seeraj to explain how this could have happened and what disciplinary action was taken, acting Permanent Secretary Ryan Tulsieram explained that the issue has since been addressed and those officers responsible had their tasks reassigned.
“Again, Mr Chair, there were errors where procedures were concerned. These errors were subsequently addressed. And the Ministry did not err in this area again,” Tulsieram informed the PAC.
“The reviews, honourable member Mr Seeraj, on their performance appraisals were noted. And there was a separation of duties in some cases,” the PS, who has been acting since the substantive PS, Sharon Hicks was sent on administrative leave, explained.
Another case highlighted by the Auditor General involved 29 contracts valued at $18.9 million, which were signed before approval from the Ministerial Tender Board. Again, Tulsieram put this down to errors in the system, which he said have since been rectified.

“I’m guided that there was a breakdown in procedures. The same person who was the Secretary to the Ministerial Tender Board, is the same individual who prepares the contracts. So, in preparing the documents for approval, she would have acted on the recommendations.”
It was meanwhile pointed out by Seeraj that there were 11 instances where $3.7 million in invoices were dated before contract approval. This indicates that work had started before contract approval was given. Asked for an explanation, Tulsieram committed to providing a written one.
Meanwhile, the PAC also heard that a “derelict” vehicle was sold in 2017 by the then Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, to a buyer who was not involved in the standard bidding process.
This was revealed as excerpts of the Auditor General’s report for the years 2017 and 2018 were perused.

As a regular practice, an advertisement or solicitation of bids is widely published to invite relevant stakeholders to take part in the bidding process. Once this is done, bidders will attend specific meetings, and thereafter submit their sealed bids. A bid is usually won based on the lowest responsible sum. In a case of selling, an item is expected to be sold to the highest bidder for maximum profit to be gained by the government, while still being reasonable to bidders.
It was, however, revealed that an unserviceable Nissan Frontier valued at $100,000, with the highest bidder coming in at $500,000, was sold for $50,000 to “an individual who did not bid for the vehicle”, according to a document emanating from the Audit Office and circulated during the PAC meeting.
Member of Parliament and government member of the PAC Sanjeev Datadin, MP, raised the question to find out why such a mishap transpired.
“My question is, how was it possible that you identified a person to buy the vehicle who did not bid?” Datadin enquired.
Datadin further went on to question a similar issue in which another vehicle was sold. In this circumstance, a Toyota pick-up valued at $50,000 was sold, but, according to the AG’s report, “no advertisement was made”.
“[With the Toyota pick-up] no bids were even invited. So, to say that you followed a procurement process – no bids were invited for the pickup,” Datadin continued.
Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, who is also a sitting member of the PAC, continued the grilling of the officials present before the committee. The Minister asked for information about the buyers of the vehicles to be brought to the fore, to ensure that the PAC continues to fulfil its mandate of transparency and accountability in the scrutiny of public funds.
Minister Edghill was then denied access to the information.
“Then we can’t name any other contractor anything here. We have asked for the name of a defaulting contractor; we have asked for the name of an engineer…I am simply asking who were the buyers? I want to establish that the buyers were not somebody from the ministry…why are we trying to hide it?”
Finance Secretary Sukrishnalall Pasha later advised the committee that it is not an appropriate practice for vehicles to be sold to the Ministry’s ’s employees, in response to a question raised by the PAC’s Chairman, Opposition MP, Jermaine Figueira.
“The practice is to not have persons in the system bid for these items, because they may be in a conflict-of-interest position,” Pasha said.
Minister Edghill expressed his “total disagreement” with the decision made by the committee’s Chair to refuse the presentation of the information about the buyer of the vehicles.
“This is inconsistent with practices that have taken place at the PAC before and I want it to be noted,” the Minister said.