Describing debarred contractor, Vevakanand Dalip, as one of the most equipped contractors at the time when the company won bids for road and culvert works across Region Nine, Regional Chairman Bryan Allicock and Regional Executive Officer, Karl Singh, have both promised Stabroek News to provide clarifications on how he was selected.
Responding to questions from this newspaper as to how a blacklisted contractor could have won the bids, Allicock said that while he cannot speak of the tendering process and awarding of the contract, he knows the company was one of three which has the necessary machinery for the works being procured.
The contracts were reported in the Auditor General’s 2021 Audit Report.
“As it relates to awarding of contracts, the RDC awarded eight contracts totaling $106.830M to a contractor who is currently blacklisted up to the year 2030 by the Public Procurement Commission of Guyana,” the audit report stated.
Speaking recently to this newspaper via phone, Allicock said he has asked the Regional Executive Officer, Karl Singh, to provide clarity on what transpired.
Singh, when contacted by Stabroek News, said he would have to enquire on what transpired and which contractor the AG’s audit report was referring to. Allicock related that he only became aware that the contractor was barred from tendering by the Public Procurement Commission [PPC] when the AG’s report was released.
“At the time we were looking for regional contractors. We were advised against hiring contractors from out of the region for regional projects. This was one of three companies who had the amount of equipment to do the work,” he stated. The two other contracting companies are JR Ranch and Kawashee Farms who have been working in collaboration with a Brazilian firm.
Dalip and his associated company, Vevakanand Dalip Enterprise, which is registered at Lot 97 Phase 2, Lethem, Rupununi, Region 9, Essequibo and 71 Somerset Court, Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara, are barred from bidding for public contracts until 2030, the PPC website states. The Lethem-based Vevakanand Dalip Enterprise was automatically debarred from being awarded contracts after it was blacklisted by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Former PPC Chair, Carol Corbin, had said a provision of the Debarment Regulations came into effect during mid-2019 and that was applied to the contractor. Vevakanand Dalip Enterprise was debarred by the IDB from December, 2018 until December 2030.
Vevakanand Dalip Enterprise and its principal, Vevakanand Dalip, were barred from IDB funded contracts for 13 years for alleged fraudulent and collusive practices. Guyanese, Sabrina Mary Williams, who also shares the same address as Dalip’s businesses in Lethem and the East Bank, was also debarred by the IDB and the PPC. In its announcement of the blacklisting against the company in 2018, the IDB said that firms listed in this manner have been sanctioned by the IDB Group’s Sanctions Committee because they were found to have engaged in fraud, corruption, collusion, coercion, or obstruction in violation of the IDB Group’s anti-corruption policies.
These findings were made through an administrative process that permitted the accused firms and/or individuals to respond to the allegations pursuant to the Sanctions Procedures. Sanctions are meant to prevent and deter fraud and corruption in IDB Group-financed activities.
Allicock stated that the company has only been able to complete five of the eight projects awarded due to weather conditions. He stated that information given to him by Singh related that Dalip was not paid any sum for three of the contracts that are to be completed. To prevent the procurement breach from recurring, Allicock said they have been encouraging small and medium scale contractors to invest in the necessary machinery needed for major road works. “We have a lot of road and culvert works coming up in the region, in Lethem and the sub regions. We have been encouraging the smaller contractors to make the investment,” he stated.
