The Alliance for Change (AFC) said it will appeal to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) to probe several instances of “questionable” contract awards by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
Former Infrastructure Minister and AFC Executive Member, David Patterson disclosed his party’s intention during a recent press conference. He emphasised that PPC must pay attention to the bid evaluation and contract award processes.
He noted that commencing August 2020, several contract awards have led to raised eyebrows in the public domain. These, he said, include the award of a school in Region 10 to a company that has no track record in construction, and the award for the construction of a fire station to a company whose main business activity is in the mining sector.
The Member of Parliament noted also that in 2022, the completion of Hunter Street was awarded to a company, whose principal’s previous experience was in the motor racing arena.
“The recent award for the rebuilding of the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School is yet another example of the questionable evaluation and award process arising from NPTAB. One can recall that the last time this contractor was awarded a contract with the Ministry of Education, headed by the current Minister, they jointly produced the KATO Secondary School – a project so riddled with defects, that it was deemed unsafe for occupation, and extensive remedial works had to be undertaken. A recent inspection revealed that several issues relating to the poor construction of the KATO School still exist,” Patterson noted.
“The AFC has been compiling a list of all these questionable contracts awards and will be formally submitting a request for the PPC to conduct further investigations into these awards,” he said.
