Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
THE 18TH Annual Report of the Contractor-General, which spans the period January to December 2004, has revealed that the bulk of Government contracts are characterised by significant overruns.
Greg Christie, Contractor General, in this latest submission to Parliament, said that while the pre-tender process had improved, the management of the post-award segments continues to be problematic.
"The majority of works contracts reflect significant overruns in both the budgeted costs and the scheduled delivery time," read a section of the detailed report.
The report raised particular concern about contracts tendered in 2002 to repair flood-damaged roads that are currently at various stages of completion.
"Some of these contracts have either been terminated, re-tendered or are still in progress," the document stated.
The Office of the Contractor General revealed that the monitoring of contracts and projects during the stated period showed that some contracts, which commenced in 2002 and are scheduled for completion in 2003, were yet to be completed.
Mr. Christie outlined that the overruns were mainly due to a failure by both the client agencies and the contractors to deploy adequate resources to properly capitalise the projects.
Another factor was the suitability of the contractors and consultants/project managers. Mr. Christie recommended that the choices be based on an objective assessment of their experience and capabilities.
Also in the report, the Contractor General reiterated to Parliament the importance of proper planning and realistic time and cost budgets.
Mr. Christie also pointed out that there was a lingering perception that the Government's Procurement Procedures were still not being adhered to, especially as it relates to contracts below $4 million.
He said the efforts of his office to ascertain the value and total number of contracts between $250,000 and $3,999,000 failed. "To date, there has been negligible response from the entities from whom we have requested this information," the report said.
