RADA under fire - Auditor general cites contract missteps in multimillion-dollar road projects
Published:Wednesday | October 30, 2019 | 12:00 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Parliamentary Reporter
A performance audit by the chief guardian of state expenditure has uncovered practices by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in which the agency has paid scant regard to government guidelines in the awarding of contracts valuing hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Pamela Monroe Ellis-led Auditor General’s Department, in a report tabled yesterday in Parliament, stated that RADA’s process of selecting contractors was not always transparent or competitive.
Over the period 2015-2016 to 2018-2019, Monroe Ellis said her department reviewed 112 road-rehabilitation contracts valued at $1.6 billion, but noted that RADA used the local competitive bidding (LCB) methodology for only four contracts valued at $90.8 million.
At the same time, RADA utilised the limited tender (LT) methodology for 75 contracts (67 per cent), valuing $1.04 billion.
“RADA was unable to indicate the basis on which contractors were preselected for invitation to bid on road-rehabilitation contracts,” the auditor general stated.
Additionally, in six instances, RADA used the LT methodology to award contracts valuing $129.8 million, despite the procurement guidelines not being met. This denied other qualified contractors the opportunity to participate in the procurement process, the auditor general observed.
The agriculture agency also utilised the direct procurement and emergency methodologies for 33 contracts, amounting to $520.93 million, although the allowable circumstances permitting the direct and emergency procurement methodologies were not met.
Giving details, Monroe Ellis said that in 25 of the 33 direct and emergency contracts, valuing $401 million (77 per cent of the contracts), RADA’s justification for the use of these methodologies did not conform with the procurement guidelines.
An examination of tender evaluation reports (TER) for the 112 contracts showed no evidence that RADA assessed bidders to determine whether they met the minimum qualifying criteria in compliance with the Instruction to Bidders and Procurement Guidelines.
The audit divulged that RADA did not provide any evidence it conducted a pre-qualification exercise of potential bidders for limited tender contracts in accordance with government guidelines.
It was reported that RADA’s own internal audit found instances during site inspections carried out in February 2018 where roads that were rehabilitated in late 2017 had begun to show signs of deterioration within a three months after rehabilitation.
There were also questionable decisions in relation to priority lists for roads to be rehabilitated.
At the request of the auditor general, RADA provided its approved list of farm roads prioritised for rehabilitation during the period 2017-18 and 2018-19, along with the reports of road works completed during the same period.
An assessment of the priority lists for both years, revealed the inclusion of roads leading to RADA’s parish offices in St Mary and St Ann.
The auditor general found no evidence where RADA consulted with the Municipal Corporations in both parishes for possible cost-sharing.
Another issue which triggered concern for the Auditor General was the high incidences of re-scoping or variation of contracts.
Monroe Ellis pointed out that in 53 instances, specification for drainage was either reduced or omitted. This, despite RADA’s records showing that the entity had identified that the quality of roadwork could be easily undone by rainfall owing to inadequate drainage.
The contribution of agriculture to gross domestic product, food security and environmental sustainability is vital. Physical improvements in farm roads are expected to enhance market access, foster domestic agricultural production, increase employment for rural farm families and attract new entrants. The maintenance of farm roads is linked to the national outcome of rural and agricultural development.