HGP Nightly News – Almost $210 million in public contracts have been flagged for procurement irregularities in the Auditor General’s 2024 Report, with the Region Five Regional Administration and the Guyana Police Force both cited for breaches of the Procurement Act.
The report found that the Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) Regional Administration awarded 60 contracts worth a combined $194.307 million without obtaining recommendations from the Evaluation Committee, a mandatory step designed to ensure transparency and fairness in the awarding of public contracts.
According to the Auditor General, the contracts were approved despite the absence of the committee’s review and assessment process, raising concerns about whether established procurement safeguards were followed.
The report also identified violations within the Guyana Police Force, where auditors found that 62 contracts totaling $15.047 million had been subdivided, a practice commonly referred to as contract splitting.
Contract splitting is prohibited under the Procurement Act because it can be used to avoid the scrutiny and adjudication requirements of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). The Auditor General noted that such practices undermine oversight mechanisms intended to protect public funds and ensure accountability in government spending.
Together, the irregularities identified at the two agencies account for more than $209 million in contracts that were either awarded without the required evaluation process or structured in a manner that breached procurement regulations.
The findings form part of a wider set of issues highlighted in the Auditor General’s 2024 Report, which also pointed to overpayments to contractors, outstanding advances on infrastructure projects, missing payment vouchers, and fraud involving Old Age Pension and Public Assistance coupons.
The procurement breaches are expected to attract attention when parliamentary oversight bodies begin examining the report and seeking explanations from agencies found to have fallen short of procurement and financial management requirements.
