The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A SENIOR employee at the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) testified yesterday about the corporation’s procurement methods after a defence attorney in Adrian Gibson and others’ criminal trial pressed him on how vendors were selected for projects.

Robert Deal, WSC’s general manager, told the court under cross-examination by Mr Damian Gomez, KC, that there were primarily three methods for awarding contracts to vendors.

Mr Deal acknowledged that one method was sole sourcing, where the board approves a specific vendor.

Mr Gomez asked whether sole sourcing and nomination were essentially the same.

Mr Deal replied that as long as sole sourcing aligned with WSC’s procurement procedures, the two were similar. However, he said there was  “a slight difference.”

Mr Gomez then suggested another method — limiting bids to a defined group of vendors and inviting them to submit proposals.

Mr Deal confirmed that this was also a recognised approach and admitted that it had occasionally been used during Mr Gibson’s tenure.

Mr Gomez then asked the witness if the third method involved publicly issuing a request for proposals (RFP). The witness replied in the affirmative.

“Now is it not true that this one last method where you...receive from the board a direction that a specific person or a specific vendor is chosen?” the attorney added.

Mr Deal responded that this was similar to sole sourcing.

When asked whether the majority of contracts during Mr Gibson’s tenure had been awarded to nominated contractors, the witness could not definitively answer, but confirmed that some vendors were selected this way.

“I’m putting it to you that that nominated contractors was the norm and not dependent on any emergency as such,” Mr Gomez said.

However, the witness disagreed.

Mr Gibson, the MP for Long Island, has been on trial since November 2023 alongside former WSC general manager Elwood Donaldson, Jr, Joan Knowles, Peaches Farquharson, and Jerome Missick.

The charges stem from contracts awarded by the corporation while Mr Gibson served as WSC executive chairman.

About ten prosecution witnesses remain to testify in the case.

The defence team includes Mr Gomez, KC, Murrio Ducille, KC, Geoffrey FarquharsonIan Cargill, Bryan Bastian, Ryan Eve, and Raphael Moxey.

Meanwhile, the Crown’s legal team comprises the Director of Public Prosecutions Cordell Frazier, Cashena Thompson, Karine MacVean, and Rashied Edgecombe.

The case continues before Senior Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson.