The government is moving to safeguard itself as it stringently manages projects and will be establishing a monitoring unit for this purpose, President Irfaan Ali yesterday disclosed.
“As project engineers and managers, we have to ensure that the files are updated, the minutes are recorded and signed… Because as we take action, we have to get our paper trail and work intact,” Ali yesterday said as he met with Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill; Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC; Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh; and several government project managers and engineers.
Ali stressed that having lapsed contracts or shoddy works will not be tolerated and he put contractors on notice.
“I have said publicly that the contracts must be managed tightly and contractors who are not keeping in accordance with their timelines, liquidated damages must be charged and that the contract files must be updated to ensure that once they go past the 10 per cent of liquidated damages then termination must take place,” he stated.
“Secondly, to financial institutions, we have to levy on the bonds when the contracts are terminated. Those mobilisation advance bonds we have to levy on those. Of course, [we are] working through some key issues to ensure that we are on time and that any hurdles are mitigated,” he added.
Nandlall explained to Stabroek News that, “The rational for all of this is simple. Negligence and delinquency cannot be tolerated.”
Said Nandlall, “In keeping with Cabinet’s decision, to deal swiftly and condignly with undue and unjustifiable delay in the completion of contracts, substandard works and every form of breaches of contracts in the public sector, the President has outlined a series of initiatives designed to achieve this important objective.”
“These include strengthening the state’s capability and capacity to effectively manage and monitor these contracts and to impose liquidated damages and other lawful sanctions, including, termination and blacklisting of contractors when it is considered appropriate to do so.”
Additionally, Nandlall said that he has been instructed by the President Ali to establish, “specifically a special unit within the Attorney General’s Chambers to dedicatedly monitor the various contracts under execution and to receive regular reports on their progress.”
“This unit’s functions will be to ensure contractual compliance and to advise on the measures to be taken when there is unjustifiable non-compliance and breach. These are the first set of initiatives that will be implemented. Others are to come…,” he added.
It is in this regard, Nandlall informed, that plans are on stream to train relevant public servants. He explained that discussions have already begun, “with the managers of the GOAL Scholarship Programme and requested appropriate project management and related programmes, including concerning International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) contracts, to be offered to relevant Public Officers across the State sectors.”
Further, he pointed out, “A number of public officers have already been identified for these training programmes, including lawyers and engineers in the public sector.”
Yesterday’s initiative, Edghill said, was made at the ideal time when this country is seeing an increase in the amount of state spending on infrastructural projects and dealing with international companies that come with rigid legal teams.
“The ministry’s project engineers have to manage individual projects and from time to time and we have to get advice and support from the Attorney General’s Chambers when we are dealing with issues of the law. What the president is doing is strengthening overall compliance… to ensure we are not exposed in any way. It is something progressive because of the volume of work we are doing at this time. Many of the foreign companies have their own engineering teams and lawyers working with them. We must up our game,” he stressed.
At no time should a project contractor or engineer avoid sanction because of legal language used or because something was omitted. “We have to ensure that we dot all our ‘I’s and cross all our ‘T’s…,” Edghill stated.
And while a key focus is on ensuring contractors honour their contractual responsibilities, the President said that there is also an incentivizing plan for those who meet their demands on time and according to contract.
“This year, we are going to give incentives to project managers… Performance is not just finishing the projects. It is about finishing the projects on time and managing your projects…We have enough technology to help you manage your project files,” Ali said.
The Minister of Public Works also explained that currently, project engineers get contract gratuity based on their performance and that “the president indicated that these they will get additional incentives.” He said that this is a welcome development by his ministry because many times, “Engineers and project managers work beyond the regular eight hours.”
