Transparency Institute Guyana Inc VP Christopher Ram

As public outcry grows

– after Finance Ministry deceived stakeholders

By Edward Layne

Finance Minister Winston Jordan

As public outcry mounts over the Government’s decision to handpick disqualified contracting company Fedders Lloyd to construct the controversial Specialty Hospital here, stakeholders have now called on the Government to scrap the recently-signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and retender for the project after it deceived the public on the facts surrounding the deal.

Over the weekend, sections of the media publish the Tender Evaluation Report done in 2012 in relation to the construction of the Hospital which showed that Fedders Lloyd Corporation Limited was administratively disqualified, while Surendra Engineering Corporation Limited and Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Ltd were the only two companies which were considered, having met the requirements.

Surendra was awarded the contract, since it was the lowest bidder, but it was later fired.

Speaking to Guyana Times, transparency advocate Christopher Ram called on the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government to revisit the entire transaction.

Artist impression of the Specialty Hospital

“In view of the public disquiet on this matter, the Government should revisit the entire transaction, including the retendering,” he said, adding that the Government should satisfy itself that the award of the contract for the project was in conformity with the Public Procurement Act.

Ram, the Vice President of Transparency Institute Guyana Inc – the local arm of Transparency International, added that he would be asking his organisation to urgently examine the matter.

Meanwhile, Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) General Secretary Kenneth Joseph added his voice to the calls for Government to retender the project, given the emerging facts   which clearly show that the Public Procurement Act was breached.

Joseph also called on all other “right-thinking” organisations in Guyana to add their voices to the call.

Economist and transparency advocate Ramon Gaskin said Government should have moved to retender in the first place, pointing out that even before this report was made public, there was already a shadow of corruption hanging over the selection of Fedders Lloyd, since the company’s lawyer, Khemraj Ramjattan, was now a Government Minister.

“Scrap the whole thing and retender… (Because) they (the Government) lied to the public,” Gaskin declared.

He, however, believes Government, based on its stated position, will move ahead with Fedders Lloyd, but highlighted that legal action may be the last option to block the Administration.

Gaskin said he stood ready to support any citizen who would challenge the Government in court.

Already, the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has said it would consider mounting a legal challenge if the Government did not retender the project.

Former Government Minister, Dr Henry Jeffrey, in an invited comment, said the release of the Tender Evaluation Report was not necessary for the retendering of the project, since by law Government was bound to retender. These revelations made it even more compelling for a new tendering exercise to be embarked upon, he said.

Dr Jeffrey maintained his initial position that as a matter of law, the project should have been put to tender.

“They are supposed to open this matter for tendering process and they are supposed to allow other people an opportunity… Ramjattan is a senior member of the Cabinet and he is in a position of kind of a conflict of interest and, therefore, they (Government) have to be even more transparent than the PPP/C,” he had told Guyana Times.

Other stakeholders have also called for Government to abandon the current arrangement and retender, since there is now evidence in the public domain which proved that Fedders Lloyd was indeed disqualified after it failed to meet a number of criteria during the tending process in 2012.

The Specialty Hospital, a project initiated by the then PPP/C Administration, is aimed at catering for complicated surgeries, ranging from heart operations and organ transplants to cosmetic surgeries.

In 2012, a US$18 million contract was awarded to India-based company Surendra Engineering, which was tasked with designing and building the controversial facility. The funding was provided by the Indian Government through a Line of Credit. In January, the contractor’s services were terminated owing to several contractual breaches. The matter was taken to the High Court and compensation was accordingly awarded to the Government.