The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Members of the all-Bahamian group selected as the 'preferred bidder' for the New Providence landfill management contract yesterday warned the Government it was making "a grave mistake" by cancelling the process.

Henry Dean, United Sanitation's principal, told Tribune Business is was "kind of disrespectful" for the Minnis administration to publicly confirm it was annulling the Request for Proposal (RFP) launched by its predecessor without informing the Waste Resources Development Group (WRDG) or its partners.

He was reacting after Romauld Ferreira, minister of the environment and housing, told the House of Assembly yesterday that the new government was preparing its own public tender process for the landfill management contract (see article on Page 3B).

The Minister, in his Budget debate contribution, slammed the eight-day RFP launched in late April by the Christie administration as "deeply flawed", arguing that the process had been "rushed" due to the impending May 10 general election and public pressure following recent landfill fires.

Mr Dean, revealing that WRDG and its members spent $80,000-$100,000 on developing "a most comprehensive bid", argued that solving the New Providence landfill's environmental and health woes should be "bigger than partisan politics".

He added that he was "extremely disappointed" that the Government did not call WRDG and its partner, Providence Advisors, in to at least discuss their proposal and see whether adjustments could have been made to satisfy the new administration's demands prior to cancelling the process.

"I'm disappointed in his comments as you report them to be," Mr Dean told Tribune Business of Mr Ferreira's remarks. "That makes us sad. While he may claim it was rushed, our proposal is a most comprehensive one.

"We had to bring in technical experts, two-three sets of experts, and there was plenty of work done locally that had value. We had spent $80,000-$100,000 in preparing that [bid] document."

Tribune Business understands that the Government is likely to refund the $10,000 deposits paid by bidders in the Christie administration's RFP, which solicited two bids - one from WRDG and Providence Advisors, and the other from an unnamed foreign group.

It is unclear whether any other bid costs will be refunded, but Mr Dean said WRDG's Bahamian members were pleased when the Christie administration decided to launch a public tender because it increased the chances that all bidders would be competing on a 'level playing field'.

"It provided us with an opportunity to compete against all who would have had designs, and added legitimacy," he told Tribune Business.

"We are disappointed; extremely disappointed, that having gone through an open bidding process this government chose to cancel the same without first extending to us the courtesy of discussing the same, and without saying to us they will give us some consideration of refunding all that we had to put into it."

Mr Dean said WRDG's RFP submission was the third landfill-related bid it had made under the former Christie administration.

He acknowledged that the timing and conditions associated with the process may have created "some scepticism" among the new government, but said the tender document provided clarity and allowed for negotiations between the Government and a 'preferred bidder'.

"The administration is making a grave mistake, and doing a disservice to locals," Mr Dean said of the cancellation decision. "There's nothing in there we cannot do. Let's not reinvent the wheel.

"Call us in for talks. It's kind of disrespectful to go ahead and make that kind of announcement. Let's hope they give it some reconsideration. It's sad. It's disappointing.

"Our proposal was bigger than partisan politics. It took into consideration all the impacts of the landfill situation. It's a holistic proposal. I will seek to have an urgent meeting with the Minister to discuss the same."

The Opposition, in a statement released earlier this week, urged the Government to continue with the process it had left in place and negotiate with WRDG, which it had identified as the 'preferred bidder' prior to the May 10 general election.

However, Ginny McKinney, Wastenot's principal and another member of WRDG, told Tribune Business earlier this week that the group had heard nothing from either government since the bids were opened at the Ministry of Finance in late April.

This casts doubt on whether a preferred bidder had been selected, although the choice may have become lost in the transition to the Minnis administration.

Effectively employing the same language as Mr Dean, Picewell Forbes, MP for south Andros, said: "We trust that the new administration will enter into negotiations with the preferred bidder, and allow the remediation and operation plan prepared by the Bahamian engineering firm, Caribbean Coastal Systems, led by Carlos Palacious, and its international consultant, Dr Tarek Abichou, and approved by the Department of Environmental Health Services, to be advanced.

"Significant work has been done; there is no need to stop or cancel that process, duplicate efforts or waste time or money. Governments are continuous. The plan is laid out, and the new government should not deprive the Bahamian group from being able to negotiate terms with the Government to enable them to solve this long-standing issue in the best of interests of the Bahamian people."

Ms McKinney, meanwhile, described the decision to cancel the existing tender as "discouraging" but promised that WRDG would bid on any process initiated by the Minnis administration.

"I am disappointed, but there we go," she told Tribune Business. "We will have to gather our resources and respond to the next one. Each one costs money; nothing comes free."

Ms McKinney, too, bemoaned the costs incurred in developing landfill-related proposals that ultimately never seemed to move the Government.

She also expressed unhappiness that WRDG and its members never seemed to be able to discuss the bids with the Government, despite showing their "in-depth knowledge" of the landfill and its problems.

"I do hope this is not the same old," Ms McKinney said. "I'd love to know how long the next one [RFP] will be."

The Christie administration committed in the Baha Mar Heads of Agreement to resolve the landfill's woes by year-end, or otherwise new owners, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), would be released from their performance obligations.