Government’s road project must be re-tendered, says Penn
Eighth District Representative Marlon Penn has called on the government to retender its 30-mile road project, expressing concerns about transparency, accountability, and potential mismanagement of public funds.
During a recent sitting in the House of Assembly, Penn insisted that a proper tender process be conducted to ensure the public gets value for money on the significant infrastructure initiative.
Penn questioned the existing tender process, noting that only one contractor had applied for the project. He criticised this as insufficient, suggesting that it might lead to inefficiencies and a lack of competition. “I have serious concerns with this one-man tender process,” Penn told lawmakers. He added that it was critical for the government to ensure that public resources are handled responsibly.
The road project, valued at around $30 million, has faced delays and issues with engineering and design. Penn pointed out that a similar road project between Paraquita Bay and Hodges Creek, costing just under $3 million, encountered numerous problems. He emphasised that these past issues raised doubts about the ministry’s ability to manage larger, more complex projects.
Penn proposed that the project be managed by the Recovery and Development Agency (RDA), an independent body tasked with overseeing major infrastructural developments. He explained that the RDA has a proven track record, citing the successful Fish Bay project, which solved long-standing flooding issues in the area.
“We have seen the work that the RDA did on the CDB loan. Every one of those projects has held up,” Penn argued. “The Fish Bay project, every time it drizzled, that place used to flood. We’ve had major rains since. We have not had an issue with terms of flooding in that area since the RDA has done that project.”
The Eighth District Representative also called for more transparency from the government, pointing out that the House had not been provided with a detailed breakdown of how funds for the road project would be allocated.
Penn further argued that major projects need to be executed in a way that will get value for money and demonstrate transparency in the process.
“We’ve seen what has been happening with major projects within the government system,” he stated. “It’s failed us. It has continued to fail us over the last six years. No major project has been delivered by the government over the last six years. If there’s one, I would sit and wait to hear.”
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Why weren’t there 3 bids as prescribed by the COI?
If were going to spend Millions on the roads lets get it right.
Electricity, Water, Internet and sewage all under the roads. With the man hole covers level with the surface and drainage.
This scale of project need to be done once and correct. The infrastructure is failing so lets invest for everyones future. Make sure that the Asphalt is stuck to the road with Tar and not just compacted. This failed with the ridge road between Rudys and then down to cane garden where the aspalt comes off like a magic carpet. The past this has been done and fails within months and just left for drivers to reck their cars.
Nice surface
Where are the drains if we have a great diwn pour . Common sense can tell the this was not engineered property. Ine does not need an engineer degree to build proper drains for the runoff of the water
Poor judgement on the part if leadership
I understand that a certain scope of work, along with a certain dollar value, requires a minimum of three responsible, responsive, qualified bids. And if an Invitation for Bid ( IFB) was issued and only one bidder applies, the government has two options, ie,,if the one bidder meets the qualifications and quotes a fair and reasonable bid, the contracting officer can signed an agreement with the lone bidder. Or it can investigate why there is only binder , a) qualifications are too demanding, b) limited number of bidders which could meet the qualifications, c) other potential bidders forego responding to the IFB, d) the timeframe was too short to respond to the IFB, etc.
Moreover, the Contracting Officer having evaluated the IFB, can issue another IFB to see if more responsive, responsible and qualified bidders would apply. How many qualified and experienced large contractors are there in the BVI? Do road contractors need to pool their resources and submit a bid as a unit? ? Sometimes when we go all out to give the many a piece of pie, poor quality often results. Road construction require knowledge, skill , ability, experience, etc to get the best outcome. It is best sometimes to have a Prime contractor with subcontractors instead of many small contractors where no one can be held responsible.
@ Stealth, sounds like you have had some procurement/acquisition experience. Come out of the shadow and share some of your experience.
We need to know what is going on with the mc namara project for the DDM under RDA it has seems to a stand Still for over a year. We need answers no one talking about that project which has become an eye sore.
How much goin their pockets and and them corrupt health care, end up taxpayers paying