ChristieContractor General Greg Christie is insisting that the public bodies which have taken issue with a statement released by his office on Tuesday have been delinquent in submitting the first quarterly contract awards (QCA) report for 2007, as required by law.
In the release, Mr. Christie named 32 public bodies which would be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for action to be taken against them for failing to submit their QCA before the April 30 deadline.
But three entities - the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and Jamaica Trade and Invest (formerly JAMPRO) - said they had submitted the report before the deadline and were not guilty of the allegations put forward by Mr. Christie.
In a response to the public entities on Wednesday, Mr. Christie said on the morning of Monday, May 29, a letter was received from ODPEM Director General Ronald Jackson, which stated that the report for the first quarter of 2007 would be late, a matter which was regretted by the organisation.
In a statement Wednesday, Mr. Jackson said there had been a misunderstanding on the issue. He told The Gleaner he had incorrectly referred to the fourth quarter report for 2006 which was submitted by the ODPEM. He admitted that the report for the first quarter was in fact late and was not submitted until Monday of this week.
"The ODPEM regrets any misunderstanding that this may have caused," said Jackson in his statement.
In the case of Jamaica Trade and Invest, the Contractor General noted that a report was not received by the OCG until May 4, four days past the April 30 deadline and a hard copy version hand-delivered on May 9. The organisation had reported that it submitted the report by email on April 30.
Mr. Christie also noted that an electronic copy submitted by the Students' Loan Bureau (SLB) was not received until May 1. The SLB said while it had sent a copy on the deadline of April 30, it was not sure if the copy had been received by the OCG.
