Former Region Two REO grilled by PAC over reported breaches of Procurement Act

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hauled the former Region Two Regional Executive Officer (REO) Denis Jaikaran over the coals on Monday, after it was revealed that back in 2019, the Regional Administration for Region Two awarded seven contracts totaling $63.1M in violation of the Procurement Act.

According to the Procurement Regulations, a Region could request quotation for projects not exceeding $3 Million. However, in 2019, the Regional Administration in Region 2 breached that regulation when it awarded seven contracts totaling $63.188M using a three-quotation system, instead of subjecting the contracts to open tendering.

Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira told the PAC that awards were done in clear breach of the country’s financial rules.

“Clearly, this is a violation of the financial rules because they seem to be obtaining quotations or using a three-quote system without public tendering or permission for restrictive tendering. So, this is a serious violation because all of these when over the $3M threshold that the regions are allowed,” Minister Teixeira explained.

The contracts included a $10.8M contract of the construction of a sanitary block at the Suddie Primary School; a $10.6M contract for the installation of solar systems at three health posts at Bethany, Capoey, and St Deny; a $10.6M contract for the installation of solar systems at another three health posts at Akawin, Abrams Creek and Mora; and a $10.5M contract for the rehabilitation of the Charity Secondary School. Three other contracts were also awarded, all exceeding $3M but less than $10M.

When the former REO was called upon to provide the PAC with answers, he sought to defer the question to the Regional Engineer, telling the Committee that he could not recall why the three-quotation system was used instead of open tendering.

“I don’t recall at this stage, why a three-quote system would have been used and it is difficult for me to make any assumption, which I don’t want to make. So, all I would say is, I cannot recall why is it the three-quote system was used,” Jaikaran told the PAC.

Minister of Public Infrastructure, Juan Edghill said to compound the situation, several requests by the Auditor General’s Office to the Regional Administration for the minutes of the Evaluation Committee to be handed over, were met with promises.

In the absence of those minutes, Minister Edghill said it was important for the former REO to provide the required answers.

But Jaikaran told the Committee that he should not be made to repeat himself, insisting that the minutes were presented to the Auditor General’s Office, with copies left in the care of Regional Administration when he demited office in August, 2020.

He maintained that at the moment, he could not recall why the three-quotation system was used.

“Mr Chairman, my only response to that question is, again, I don’t recall and I am not going to be able at this stage to posit any answer to that question posed to me….I want to remind the member that I am a private citizen and when I was REO, if that question was posed to me, I would have been in a better position to better understand and answer the question, but at this stage I don’t have any information. I throw those information through the window since 2020 when I left office, and I don’t look back at procurement procures. What I do look at is that every day I read one book, more valuable than any Procurement Act, and that book that I am reading and honestly reading is the Bible,” he told the PAC.

Firing back at Jaikaran, Finance Secretary Sukrishnalall Pasha, told the Committee that Jairkaran must be honest with himself and provide the appropriate answers.

However, the PAC Chairman, Jermaine Figueira told Pasha that while members of the PAC may not be pleased with the response, they must accept it, noting that the former REO is not the first official to appear before the Committee and indicate that he cannot recall.

But Minister Edghill maintained that the RDC under Jaikarran had breached the Procurement Act, and it must not be understated.

The Audit Office has since been asked to launch a further investigation into the issue, and to clearly establish the names of contractors, who submitted quotations for the projects, and the details of those quotations.