Guyana gov’t gets tough on errant contractors

President Donald Ramotar on Friday said delinquent contractors will be blacklisted should they fail to comply fully with their contracts.
The president speaking at a procurement symposium held at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC), noted that the time has come for action to be taken against errant contractors, engineers and other persons tasked with dealing with procurement matters.

He demanded that no more excuses be accepted from the aforementioned categories as for every delay in completing jobs costs the state. “I am asking them to re-examine the possibilities of blacklisting people, contracted engineers, or consultants, who consistently produce jobs that cost us more money than it should actually cost us. I believe that is the only way we are going to get full value for hard earned money that we spend.”
The president said “this cannot be done otherwise; I have to think about all the people who live in our country.”
He added that there must be an end to long extensions and overruns given to contractors and engineers, noting that frivolous excuses are provided more often than not as to why contracts have not been fulfilled.
“Much of that is unacceptable to a poor country like ours that is struggling to improve the livelihood of our people. Poor supervision also leads to shoddy work and costing us considerable sums. Very often a lot of work has to be redone and work that should have been completed already… we cannot tolerate this,” President Ramotar told stakeholders at the packed to capacity convention centre.
Accordingly, he said he has instructed the finance minister and attorney general to reexamine the laws surrounding procurement and the execution of contracts.
“I have instructed them already at Cabinet that we must implement clauses in our contracts for penalties where people sign contracts and without any valid reasons cannot complete their contracts. We must begin to implement the penalty clauses that are there; I am asking them also to modify the contracts, laws so that we can also deal with areas where engineers and consultants are responsible for work not being done on time, or for shoddy works.”
The passionate head of state added “People must pay for poor work – not taxpayers or government should pay for that.” He said while he believes many of the problems publicised by the media are politically related, he acknowledged that “there is a lot of truth in some of what comes out from time to time in the press.”
He also called for there to be the rotation of technical resources so that every bid is evaluated on merit. In laying his recommendations on the table, Ramotar said Cabinet is not tasked with awarding contracts, but simply gives its objections to the evaluation or re-evaluation process by the National Procurement Tender Administration Board.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh in brief remarks said that the national procurement conference “is very important”, as it seeks to ensure that all stakeholders get value for money. He said the main objective of having such sessions is to ensure that there is economic growth here.
Dr Singh noted that it is important also that all of the administrative and legal frameworks can withstand the most rigorous scrutiny. Guyana’s framework, he added is being used as a model across the Caribbean.
The Public Procurement Act of 2003, he said is comprehensive and was enacted because of the many achievements made in the area over the years. Obtaining the best procurement system, he added is “an ongoing one”. “We will never rest on our laurels and say our work is done,” Dr Singh said.
The two day symposium commenced on Thursday and concluded on Friday. The first day saw specialists examining the process of the evaluation of bids aimed at improving the current systems.
Friday’s session saw several presentations explaining the processes being put before stakeholders. The stakeholders were given an opportunity to ask questions and lodge complaints.