Real reasons why contractors cannot complete projects
Oct 26, 2016, , http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....t-complete-projects/
Dear Editors;
As a qualified Civil Engineer in the construction sector interacting with Contractors and Government Staff for a number of years, I have believed the capacity to comment on this issue as captioned above. I hope Minister Patterson take a look at the following reasons;
A -Ethics and Professionalism
Absence of individuals that demonstrate these two qualities in society is the sole major reason why poor countries with abundant resources remain poor. In Guyana (past and present), contracts are awarded to many friends and associates of those in the Government and its Ministries, regardless of their experience.
Giving a contract to a friend that does not have the capacity to carry out such works results in disaster. In most cases these contracts exceed contract time, go over budget and wastes taxpayers money. More contracts needs to be terminated to show how serious the Government is when it comes to defaulting contractors. Will they terminate a contract if the contractor is a close associate? No! Code of Ethics and Professionalism need to be strictly enforced but the sad thing is, if the breach is at a top level, who will watch whom? Can a lower level staff report a Manager and still have his/her job.
B – Poor project planning at the level of ministries
Most projects that I was involved in or know about were not planned properly, and this resulted in major delays. For example, the current East Bank Four Lane Expansion Project.
This project has been ongoing for over five years and inconveniencing road users daily resulting in millions being lost daily by road users due to traffic congestion. The by-pass road from Diamond to Georgetown should have been constructed first. This would have allowed for majority traffic to be diverted there whilst the Four Lane was being constructed and construction time could have been cut in half. Utilities relocation also resulted in a major setback to this project.
Many projects are awarded at a certain value and scope and when actual construction begins the situation is different. This result in many changes to the projects which causes significant delays with the back and forth process between the Ministry and the Contractor.
To solve this issue more ground work needs to be done by Engineers at the Ministries’ level to arrive at a complete scope which will result in projects with less changes. Employing more Engineers (as the Minister suggested) will also help with this issue.
C- Lack of timely part payment on projects
On some contracts that I worked on, the Ministries would take as much as two months to process part payment for a contractor. This results in increased delays, since small contractors depend on these part payments to continue working. The Government needs to improve on this system to process payments faster which will result in projects being delivered on time. I suggest payment should be made to contractors no later than one week after they submit a request.
D- Bidding price for projects
The evaluation system for projects is totally flawed. Over the years I see contractors being awarded projects to as much as 50% below the Engineer’s estimate.
How can a contractor complete a job for half the estimated price? He will simply produce sub-standard work to save on costs and due to lack of funds due to the low bid price he has to wait on funds from other projects or his creditors to continue works on the low bid project. As a result the project is delayed and goes over contract time. Award of such contracts are the sole fault of the Government; including its Engineers, Evaluators and Cabinet (Cabinet gives final approval). I believe this is one of the major reasons why projects are delayed.
To solve this issue contractors whose bid price are out of a certain range (e.g. plus or minus 25% of the estimate should be automatically disqualified. Incidentally these low bidders also win projects due to lack of individuals in the Government that demonstrates the two qualities mentioned in part 1.
E- Unqualified Contractors
Many projects over time are being awarded to unqualified contractors. Due to their inexperience in the specific field they take longer to execute tasks and projects are delayed. There are very few exceptions to this. To solve this issue, contractors in Guyana should be grouped in categories.
So if you don’t complete a certain amount of small and/or similar contracts you are not eligible to bid for bigger jobs. This would sort contractors out and eliminate inexperienced ones.
It will also be fewer burdens on the Ministry to evaluate unnecessary and unqualified bidders. Shortlisting is also another option. This is how it is being done in other countries. Right now in Guyana, any contractor can bid for any job.
F- Unqualified staff being used on projects
To win contracts, many contractors put up experienced staff in their bids and when the contract is being executed they substitute those staff with inexperienced ones.
This action results in projects being planned and executed poorly which results in significant projects delays. The Ministries’ Engineers needs to ensure that the qualified personnel are being employed by the contractor as stated in his/her bid. If a replacement is done the person should be at least of equal calibre. This is stated in most contracts but is not being enforced.
I end with a question; why are contractors still being awarded projects when their hands are already full? Two main reasons for this; the contractor is a friend or associate of those in Government and/or no proper due diligence was done to ensure the contractor does not have other current contracts where all his resources are utilized.
Concerned civil engineer