Robert Hart, Parliamentary ReporterTHE URBAN Development Corporation (UDC) came under fire from Parlia-ment's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday, after failing to follow proper procedure in the selection of a contractor for a $49 million development at the National Stadium in 2002.
The Auditor General's report for 2002/2003, noted that a $48.9 million contract for the reconstruction of the Stadium's Mondo track was fragmented into 13 separate contracts, each under $4 million, and "circumvented" the requirement for the award to be done on the recommendation of the National Contracts Commission.
"What deeply concerns me is that what has been an improper process, deliberately done, there is no disciplinary action, no sanction, no resignation," Delroy Chuck, Opposition PAC member, bitterly complained during yesterday's sitting of the committee. He was responding to the revelation that Cabinet had just this year ratified the award of the contract. The UDC had been mandated by the government to bring the entire stadium to world class standards for the then upcoming World Junior Championships.
BACKS AGAINST THE WALL
But according to Marjorie Campbell, the UDC's general manager, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) provided specifications for the track only four months before the event, giving little time for contract negotiations and putting "our backs against the wall."
"The corporation, having given its commitment to bring the stadium to a state of readiness to host the World Juniors, negotiated a contract with West Indies Home Contractors Limited (WIHCON), for the stadium works," she told the PAC.
"The work carried out by WIHCON was done by way of separate work orders to allow for flexibility because of the dynamic nature of the project," she added, noting that the initial estimate after specifications were provided was $42 million.
But PAC Chairman Audley Shaw was unimpressed and noted that a project estimated at more than $40 million should have been brought to the attention of the Contracts Commission to ensure competitive tendering and balance and the best quality work with the lowest possible price.
"A person in your senior position, being aware of the Government's regulations, should it not have been automatic that once you have an estimate of $42 million, that you knew that you were obliged to seek to follow the Government's guidelines?" the PAC chairman asked Mrs. Campbell.
Mrs. Campbell admitted that the UDC had erred in its handling of the contract but defended the agency's record of compliance with guidelines in general. The Auditor General, however, revealed that he has since seen similar situations relating to the UDC and football fields at the stadium facility and in Montego Bay, St. James.
"Apparently at that time it was a practice," the Auditor General noted.
