Education Ministry flayed over deficient contract documents

The Ministry of Education has come under fire in the 2007 Auditor General ‘s Report for its “deficiencies in the preparation of contract documents” which the report says allows contractors to get away with doing substandard work.

The report says that “the Ministry of Education was exposed to great financial risks because of deficiencies in the preparation of contract documents, that rendered them powerless should contractors renege on agreements, provide substandard works or fail to show due diligence in the execution of works.”

Meanwhile, the report stated that the Ministry of Education “has still not resolved the issue concerning the overpayment of $32 million to a delinquent contractor” for construction work done to the male dormitory at President’s College.

According to the Head of the Budget Agency, within the Education Ministry, this project was managed by SIMAP and the Ministry only provided a part of the project sum.

The Audit Office recommended that “the Head of the Budget Agency intervene with the appropriate agency to determine the status of the matter, given that the Project Execution Unit of the SIMAP was closed before the issue was concluded.”

Concerns in the report were also raised about “the status of the completion of the lab building at New Amsterdam Technical Institute” which “remains undetermined”. According to the document, in 2004 the Tender Board awarded the works in the sum of $10.717 million and payments during that year amounted to $5.470 million. “The project was closed in 2005 after the Chief Building Inspector terminated the contract on the grounds of substandard work, among other things.  Thereafter, there were no budgets for the works.”

The Head of the Budget Agency explained “that communication with the contractor and the Projects Engineer was mainly by telephone, hence there were slippages in the required documentation. The need for documentation of decision and instruction is recognized and is being enforced more rapidly.”

The Audit Office recommended that “the Head of Budget Agency ensures that its controls are effective to avoid such occurrences”

Meanwhile, the report also revealed that “an examination of a sample of 7 rehabilitation projects undertaken by the Ministry during the reporting period revealed six instances where contractors were overpaid amounts totaling $2.108 million on measured works. These included projects on the Turkeyen Nursery School, New Campbellville Secondary School, Comenius Primary School, East Ruimveldt Secondary School, St Agnes Nursery School and East Street Nursery.

The Ministry has promised to “investigate these discrepancies with a view to determine the overpayment to take the necessary corrective action.”
The Audit Office has urged the Ministry to take appropriate action to determine the reasons for the discrepancies.

The Office has also urged that corrective measures be implemented including those that will see the full recovery of amounts that were overpaid.