Tendering process bypassed by last Government: Marshall

Several high priced projects executed under the last Government did not go to tender as was required.

This revelation came yesterday in the House of Assembly during the debate on the Integrity in Public Life Bill. Piloting the debate on the promised and much anticipated Bill yesterday, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall maintained that to prevent a repeat of such, since coming to office just over six weeks ago, they have been “drilling into the minds” of the new Cabinet Ministers that the Financial Management and Audit Rules must be followed. Further, he disclosed they have had “full dialogue” with the Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Department, to ensure that there is an understanding going forward, that Barbados intends to follow Financial Management and Audit Rules, which he explained requires a public tendering process for any contract worth more than $200,000.

“We also have to insist that the rules for Government procurement are followed and are transparent because if the rules of Government procurement are followed and are transparent then the entire process of offering a Government contract will be done under the light of day and under the bright sunshine of transparency there is little opportunity for corrupt practices to grow,” he said.

The Attorney General raised the issues, as he told the Lower House that under the previous administration a contract worth almost $20 million was awarded for the construction of high rise housing units at Valery, St. Michael without going to tender. He added that a similar situation occurred with respect to other units including those at Exmouth Gap, St. Michael.

“Mr. Speaker, upon taking office we discovered that a contract in excess of 190 million Barbados dollars was awarded by the Port for the building of a berth, without going to tender. Sir. Mr. Speaker when you reach the point where it suits a political party and a Government of the day to dispense and award vast contracts, all requiring taxpayer dollars, without going to tender Mr. Speaker, then you have reached the point where the Government of the day does not care about the people who elected them and does not care about the fortunes of our country,” the Legal Affairs Minister maintained.

Marshall also spoke of $28 million paid by the Transport Board to a company to rebuild the transmissions of its buses. He alluded that such money could have been better used over the last decade to buy new buses. “$28 million to repair transmissions Mr. Speaker, not a single tender; not a contract...The threshold of $200,000 year, after year, ... was ignored by the Transport Board and one company got $28 M in fees,” he lamented.