UDeCOTT broke tenders rules in awarding contract

A top executive of the the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) admitted to the Uff enquiry into the construction sector Friday that UDeCOTT broke tender rules with respect to contractor Hafeez Karamath Ltd (HKL).

UDeCOTT's chief operating officer Neelanda Rampaul told the commission HKL became a main contractor for the Brian Lara Stadium and Cricket Academy in Tarouba even though the company breached tender rules by submitting proposals and not tenders.

She said the rules are clear that the company should have submitted a tender along with a tender fee instead of submitting proposals for free.

She made the admission during cross examination by Senior Counsel Leslie Fitzpatrick, who is representing the Joint Consultative Council (JCC). Rampaul said prior to the close of the tenders, nobody submitted any tender.

Fitzpatrick said UDeCOTT's board received a note in 2006 from its acting chief executive officer stating that the board accept a proposal by HKL dated the 30th of May, 2006. For the records, he asked Rampaul: "So in effect, what HKL was doing was bypassing the tender procedures and submitting a proposal, were they not?" to which she answered, "Yes."

Rampaul said that HKL was the only contractor that collected the tender documents for the Brian Lara Stadium project and ultimately submitted three proposals. She suggested that the breach of rules was minor.

"We followed it but there would always be instances where there would minor infractions," she said.

Fitzpatrick asked Rampaul about the composition of UDeCOTT's tenders committee from 2005 to 2006, pointing out that the organization's own tender rules state that the committee must be comprised of the chairman, two board members and two senior non-board members of staff.

He said that UDeCOTT had a chief operating officer and a chief constructions engineer who could have sat on the tenders committee instead as opposed to the entire board operating as the committee.

Fitzpatrick: "UdeCOTT, therefore, did not comply with its own tender rules as to the constitution of its tender committee?"

Rampaul: "No, they did not."

She explained that at that time the government had not appointed enough board members and "for operational purposes" the entire board served as the tender committee. She said it was a temporary measure, stating that the board had such a prerogative.

The UDeCOTT executive also revealed that HKL received a $46 million advance payment for the project, which represented 20 per cent of the total sum. She said such payments normally comprise 10 per cent of the total sum but an additional 10 per cent could be added for the acquisition of materials.

The Brian Lara Stadium, which was scheduled to be ready for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, was originally estimated to cost $275 million, has now cost $800 million and no one can say when it would be completed.

HKL is the company that had won the original award for the $100 million Customs and Excise Building project in 2003 before the then Planning and Development Minister Dr Keith Rowley intervened to get the contract quashed, citing concerns about the bidding process.