Following President Irfaan Ali’s defence of the $556.9 million award to Kares Contracting for the construction of the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School in Georgetown, former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, says that government is not absolved from pointing out breaches in the awards of contracts as per the Pro-curement Act and should have objected.
“Cabinet is also not a passive player in its involvement in the procurement process. It has a duty under Section 54 of the Procurement Act to first review the streamlined evaluation report prepared by NPTAB, setting out the basis for the proposed award of a contract. Cabinet can object to the award of a contract if all the procedures have not been followed,” Goolsarran wrote in this week’s edition of his Accountability Column in the Stabroek News.
