The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamian Contractor’s Association’s (BCA) president yesterday backed the Constitutional Commission’s call to create the Office of the Contractor General, suggesting it would help ensure ‘fair play’ in the awarding of government contracts.

  “We know that from time to time there are choice individuals or companies that one administration may go ahead and seek favour with,” said Godfrey Forbes.

“It happens from time to time, but I think for the most part it has been a situation where not enough of the contractors get an opportunity to bid on projects. Sometimes you have contractors, who are just not up to par as it relates to their financial capabilities, who go ahead and deal with some projects, and you have to be realistic about how you go about awarding contracts.”

The Constitutional Commission has suggested that a Contractor General would act as a ‘front end watchdog’ for how the Government was spending taxpayer monies on contracts, with the Auditor-General watching the ‘back end’.

The Commission report said it should be created as a public office, “with security of tenure, along the lines of the Auditor General”.

“Such a person would be responsible for overseeing the award of Government contracts and ensuring that public funds are expended fairly, and that value is received for money expended,” said the Commission.

“In contradistinction to the lukewarm reception given the above commissions, the Commission feels that there is a useful place for such an office in the constitutional scheme. This office could be constituted along similar lines as that of the Auditor-General, with the responsibility for overseeing the award and performance of government service contracts valued in excess of $50,000.”

Mr Forbes said: “The Government has no money of its own; at the end of the day it’s spending the people’s money, and I think they ought to exercise good judgment and prudence when it comes to making a selection in terms of who they would go ahead with.

“As it relates to having someone responsible for ensuring that, at the end of the day, there is fair play, there is nothing wrong with that. I think that is something that would help to serve the construction industry as a whole.

“The Government has had a number of projects awarded to contractors that were not completed, and they got other contractors who go on for an extended period of time with projects still ongoing.”