Update | Golden tablets!

BEMOANING THE exorbitant sum spent by the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) to acquire laptops and other equipment, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Mark Golding questioned whether two Samsung tablets purchased at a price of $436,024 “were made from gold”.

“I just bought some tablets for an educational institution in my constituency and bought them for US$50 each; that was a good price. That is J$6,000-$7,000 each, and here we have CMU paying for two (tablets) for $436,000,” Golding said during a meeting of the committee yesterday.

Other purchases by the CMU that raised concerns among some committee members included three 15-inch Dell touchscreens costing nearly $1.5 million and three MacBook Pros and accessories at more than $1.6 million.

Recounting numerous violations, including breaches of the Government’s procurement guidelines, the PAC chairman called for a representative from the university’s IT Department to answer questions at the next meeting of the committee.

Deputy president of the CMU, Professor Ibrahim Ajagunna, said that he had nothing to do with the running of the IT Department. As such, Professor Noel Brown, who is in charge, will have to face tough questions from committee members.

WEAKNESSES IN PROCESS

A company called ITZSHIP24/7 Limited, or Logistics Company 2, reportedly supplied 15 laptops and two tablets, among other computer equipment, at a cost of $10.6 million. Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis had reported that she found weaknesses in the selection and approval process, recording and identification of asset at the CMU.

There was no formal contract in place for acquiring the $10.6 million worth of IT equipment from a logistics company. Further, the company was not registered with the National Contracts Commission to supply computers.

The CMU could not indicate how the company was selected in a context where it was not identified on a competitive basis.

Committee member and Opposition Spokesman on Education Peter Bunting said that apart from the outrageous prices, there was no evidence that the computers or laptops had been delivered to the CMU.

Ajagunna said that the IT Department should have a record of the items. He said that three MacBook Pros could not be found but noted that one was seized by the Financial Investigations Division (FID).

The anti-corruption body has investigated the CMU, with fraud-related charges being laid against the institution’s embattled president, Fritz Pinnock, who is now on leave. Former education minister Ruel Reid, wife Sharen, daughter Sharelle, and Brown’s Town division Councillor Kim Brown Lawrence are also enmeshed in the alleged conspiracy.

When asked about the tablets, Ajagunna could not tell if they had been found.

The auditor general had reported that despite having access to the enterprise version of a software suite, the CMU purchased three individual licences from a third party (Logistic Company 2 or ITZSHIP24/7 Limited) at cost of $256,900 per annum. Checks by the auditor general revealed that the software provider sold the licences at the time for approximately US$60 each (or total of $25,000), reflecting a difference of $231,900.

“It is our view that CMU did not obtain the most economical value as a result of the purchase through a logistics company instead of the software provider,” Monroe Ellis had reported.

Bunting lamented that ITZSHIP24/7 Limited sold the licences at nearly 10 times the regular cost.

“It is quite curious that normally, these licences, you can buy them online directly from the companies, whether it be Microsoft or whoever the vendor is,” Bunting observed.

“Why were they buying computers at these bizarrely high prices?”

However, there was no one to provide an explanation to the committee as the deputy president said he did not know.

“I never had responsibility for IT. This is something that we have to investigate,” Ajagunna said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous reference had quoted Mark Golding as saying he had bought tablets for US$500 or J$67,000 each. That should have been US$50 or J$6,000-J$7,000.
edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com