HGP Nightly News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo says the government is working to stop persons from cheating the small contractor system, as confusion and complaints continue over the rollout of contracts for small contractors across the country.
His comments came during a crowded government outreach exercise, where scores of persons rushed to raise concerns about contracts, NIS matters, cash grants, drainage, garbage collection, street lights and other community issues.
The event was marked by overcrowding and confusion, with many persons seeking answers on whether they would benefit from the government’s small contractor programme. To manage the crowd, persons were separated according to the issues they came to raise and directed to different rooms for one-on-one engagement with ministers and technical officers.
Jagdeo said the government’s aim was to resolve as many issues as possible on the spot. Where that could not be done, he said officials would set up a process for follow-up meetings or technical review.
On the issue of small contracts, the Vice President said the government introduced a prequalification exercise to make the award of contracts more transparent and to give more small contractors access to public works.
He explained that contracts valued below $15 million could previously be awarded without the full tender process, in keeping with the Procurement Act. However, he said many persons had complained that they did not know how to access those opportunities.
According to Jagdeo, the prequalification process was intended to allow more persons to know about the system and participate in it.
He said nearly 12,000 small contractors submitted documents during the exercise, but the government has since had to carry out detailed checks to clean up the list.
Jagdeo said some of the problems identified include cases where several members of the same family appeared to have separate companies, even though the prequalification rules prohibited that type of arrangement. He also said some larger contractors were allegedly trying to enter the system under the category of small contractors.
“You have a lot of people who are trying to cheat the system,” Jagdeo said.
He said technical staff and ministers have been involved in reviewing the applications to ensure that the process remains fair and that opportunities go to legitimate small contractors.
The Vice President acknowledged that some persons have become frustrated after seeing contracts being awarded while they are still waiting. However, he said the government cannot award thousands of contracts at once.
“Everyone wants to go in the first round,” he said.
Jagdeo said that if thousands of applicants are legitimately prequalified, the government will try to ensure that each receives at least one contract over the course of the year.
He insisted that the programme is not intended to benefit a few large contractors, but to help ordinary Guyanese build capacity and grow small businesses.
“We could have easily done like what happened under others and give the contracts to a few big people. That is not our track record. We want to grow a lot of small people,” Jagdeo said.
Beyond the contract complaints, Jagdeo said residents also raised concerns about drainage, garbage collection, street lights, security cameras, NIS and cash grants.
He said the government is moving to install nearly 90,000 street lights across villages and city wards, accelerate drainage works, and place about 2,000 security cameras in communities this year.
Jagdeo also said garbage compactors have been purchased for almost all NDCs and townships, while disposal sites are being prepared to make waste collection easier for communities.
The Vice President said while some persons are impatient, the government is working through several commitments and intends to ensure that citizens across all ten regions benefit.
