By Fay Simmons
Tribune Business Reporter
The Opposition’s leader yesterday challenged the Government over what he asserted was the award of several hundred million dollars in contracts issued without competitive bidding.
Michael Pintard, speaking in the House of Assembly, accused the Davis administration of non-compliance with the Public Procurement Act in awarding $212m in direct contracts over the 12-month period between December 2023 and November 2024.
And he also urged the Government to explain why it has awarded 33 contracts valued at more than $100,000 to companies without opening them up to a competitive bidding process. “The Davis administration between this period have, in fact, awarded more than $212m in direct awards that never saw competitive bidding, and this is only for a handful of government departments and ministries.
“We believe, based on contracts that we’ve heard are about to commence, some we understand have already started, when you look at infrastructure work, when you look at airports and a host of other things, IT sourcing, etc, that the amount of money the Government has directly awarded to individual companies with no one else having an opportunity to do can very well be upwards of $350m; some say as high as $500m.”
Mr Pintard tabled a spreadsheet report on the procurement contracts allegedly issued by direct awards and sole sourcing for the period December 2023 to November 2024, which suggested that 589 contracts were worth a combined $212.513m were issued. And it also showed that a further 33 contracts worth over $100,000, and with a total value of $203.477m, were issued with the largest valued at $180m.
“Here’s a Prime Minister that talks about monopolies and oligopolies, these big terms to impress our people, but here he is as the minister of finance engaging in a process of direct awards,” said Mr Pintard.
“There is a need for the Prime Minister and the minister of finance to explain what is the justification for this approach. There may be a logical reason. We certainly know a number of the companies who we know to do good work in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, but we do know that there’s a process by which all of these companies ought to have received the contract, and we are absolutely clear that this administration has circumvented.”
Mr Pintard added that details of the contracts, such as financing terms and duration, have not been disclosed by the Davis administration and called on the Prime Minister to reveal details about the public-private partnership (PPPs) agreements it has entered.
“In many cases, how long the contract is to last, we often do not know, especially if it’s a public-private partnership. We don’t know the interest rate that the Bahamian people, your children, my children, our grandchildren... we don’t know what amount they are on call to pay in decades to come because the Government refused to reveal the interest rates on any of the arrangements that they are in fact making,” said Mr Pintard.
He added that the Public Accounts Committee will continue discussions with the acting auditor general, former auditor general, Terrance Bastian, and several other senior government officials to understand the logic behind many of the Davis administration’s decisions.
“When the Prime Minister, and we hope he does, explains the justification for single sourcing anywhere we believe between $250m to $500m in contracts, when he explains that there are several other things we wish for him to explain,” Mr Pintard said.
“[There are] senior public servants who have contracts in excess of a $1m, working with government and having multiple contracts. In one case, there is a company that is providing a service for a ministry. That agency that the contractor company works for would have investigated the very minister in that particular ministry, and has approximately $1m in a contract for a company they are associated with.
“Let me go further. For apparently two years running there has been a contract issued for decorations. We are told it’s over $500m, but again, why would that be awarded to the Ministry of Finance, as opposed to the Ministry of Works and did that in fact go to a procurement board?”
Comments
ExposedU2C 3 weeks, 1 day ago
The corrupt government deals whereby the insatiably greedy Snake, Tony Ferguson and other crooks have acquired, for mere pennies on the dollar of true value, control over our nation's electrical power generation and distribution systems is going to have crippling financial implications not only for our nation's finances but also for the financial well being of most Bahamians and Bahamian businesses.
sheeprunner12 3 weeks ago
Did Pintard name ONE company on the list???
I guess that if Pintard did start naming the companies and their owners, he would have been dragged out again OR the debate closed like Fweddy did with MOFA bill.
birdiestrachan 3 weeks ago
Where was Pintard when the shipping port and cruise port and the post office. Agreements Were signed PINTARD Seems to have problems with some folks remember his papa gave the shipping port the right to increase their fees if profit goes to less than 10 percent. This has an effect on the cost of living
ExposedU2C 2 weeks, 6 days ago
Chomp change compared to the free ride our corrupt PLP and FNM governments have given to the equally corrupt cruise line industry over many decades, especially the major polluting players in our region of the world like Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Disney.
The tough environmental standards imposed on the cruise line industry by most European country regulators have forced them to use their latest and most pollution free ships throughout Europe and to burden our part of the world with their oldest and least environmentally friendly ships that spew tons of highly toxic particulates and other substances into the air we breath and the waters we (and our fish) swim in.
These corrupt and most greedy cruise line owners and operators reap enormous profits off of their highly polluting operations in The Bahamas while contributing so very little to our economy. And they get away with it because of their corrupt relationship with the most crooked among the political ruling class in our nation.
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