The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunmedia.net

THE construction firm selected for the new Ministry of National Security building was thoroughly investigated and declared “competent” by the Ministry of Works, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis said yesterday.

Mr Davis accused the media of scandalising the decision to award Holiday Industrial Builders International (HIBI) a $20m contract for the new building, slated to be a replica of the Attorney General’s building on John F Kennedy Drive.

Underscoring that HIBI’s contract for the construction of the Attorney General’s building was wrongfully

terminated in 2008, Mr Davis revealed that the initial contract awarded to HIBI was valued at “around $14m”.

The figure contradicts previous reports that stated the original contract cost was $5.9m.

Mr Davis’ sentiment that the media brought unnecessary attention to the issue and did not fairly present the facts was supported by Prime Minister Perry Christie and Minister of Labour and National Insurance, Shane Gibson.

In a bid to reveal opposition hypocrisy Mr Gibson said he would table documents in the House of Assembly today revealing how a construction firm that had been terminated “with cause” from a project was then awarded more work by the previous FNM administration.

Mr Gibson said he was not minded to table the National Insurance Board’s (NIB) contract with HIBI, adding that details concerning the project were only made public because it had been requested.

The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation (BMC) terminated its contract with Holiday Industrial in November 2008, after which an independent review of the project by Construction Cost Engineering (CCE) was commissioned by the NIB.

HIBI’s legal counsel challenged the termination and were successful in arbitrating the matter, according to attorney Kelphene Cunningham, who said the total sum of money paid to HIBI upon completion of arbitration was “just shy of $700,000”.

Last week, Ms Cunningham said the decision to cancel the contract was “purely for political expediency”. Yesterday Mr Gibson said there was no mention of “shoddy work” throughout the arbitration process.

According to the CCE report, overpayments to Holiday Industrial, exclusive of professional fees, stood at $2.1m between 2004 and 2007. It stated that overpayments were the result of arithmetical and miscalculation errors in authorised payment requests sent by the contractor; the incorrect application and record-keeping of payment deductions; and the failure to record direct purchases made on behalf of the contractor by the BMC.

In response to questions over the tender process for the National Security building, Mr Davis said: “This issue in particular was referred to my ministry, we had a meeting with all of my technical officers. We looked at the numbers, we revised all the numbers, and we then said this price, the value for what is going to be built is reasonable and meets the appropriate accepted construction standards.

“The question of (Holiday Industrial Builders) being competent to build was also raised and investigated by my ministry, and when we looked at the replica building where the Attorney General office is now, I discovered that the contract was originally awarded for around $14m to Holiday Builders, that his contract was terminated I think unlawfully.” 

Mr Davis added: “(Holiday) was able to take the government into arbitration and was successful, a contract was awarded without negotiation to another contractor by the FNM and it was only completed very recently with other contractors having to be engaged.”

Mr Davis added that there was a new project manager assigned to the Attorney General’s building during its construction; however he did not clarify what impact staffing had on the construction costs and timeline.