Market Me bailed out broke ministry - MOHW admits to not owning Jamaica Moves brand
Published:Wednesday | July 22, 2020 | 12:31 AMDanae Hyman/Staff Reporter
Marketing and public-relations firm Market Me Consulting bailed out the Ministry of Health & Wellness in fronting a payment to host a meeting because the ministry was broke.
The revelation was made as the ministry published reams of contracts and invoices on its website on Tuesday, a week after controversy raged over whether Dr Christopher Tufton had exercised ministerial influence in corralling business for Market Me.
Tufton has described social-media posts alleging a personal relationship with a director of Market Me as “vile, filthy, and scandalous”.
Permanent Secretary Dunstan Bryan disclosed to The Gleaner on Tuesday that, all told, the ministry spent approximately $300 million in outsourced communication and advertisement placements for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
According to a memorandum issued in October 2017, Tufton had requested a meeting with various medical officers to discuss Jamaica Moves at the Medallion Hall Hotel. But based on the time of the fiscal year, the ministry said it was short of cash and proposed that Market Me pay the hotel, with the intention of reimbursement at a later date. This amounted to $174,577.47.
Bryan said that while that arrangement was not standard practice, it was not isolated.
“It is not regularly done, but from time to time, depending on the activity, the firm may advance a payment and then ask the ministry to reimburse them.
“Many entities, for the purpose of expediting an activity, may pay for it upfront and then request that the Government reimburse them. It is not something that is regularly practised, but it is not something that is out of the norm,” Bryan said.
In the meantime, the permanent secretary has revealed that despite funnelling millions of dollars into the Jamaica Moves behaviour-change initiative over the past three years, Market Me has intellectual property rights over the campaign name and logo.
Bryan said that he expects the intellectual property rights to be transferred to the ministry free of cost by August. He said on Tuesday that he had written to Market Me in 2019 requesting the transfer.
No explanation was offered why that transfer had not already been made.
A review of the documents by The Gleaner indicates that in addition to contracted amounts tendered to Market Me for the Jamaica Moves campaign, the ministry paid out more than $13 million in other projects between March 7, 2017, and July 3, 2020. Approximately $2.6 million of that expenditure has not yet been accounted for.
Some of the projects included $386,860 for goodie bags distributed by Market Me to members of parliament and senators and more than $713,972 for marketing for last year’s Sectoral Debate.
It also includes a $552,062.64 Diabetes Day supplement in The Gleaner and $42,000 coverage of the ministry’s annual sports day by Market Me.
Bryan has defended the outsourcing of marketing activities, saying that the PR unit consists of two individuals to serve the entire ministry.
“The ministry has several programmes which they are responsible for, including the public relations of the ministry itself. There are several programmes that require communication intervention, and from time to time, activities are outsourced from different entities.
“Market Me is not the only entity that we outsource to,” Bryan said.
Market Me had initially made an unsolicited proposal to the ministry in 2016 for the Jamaica Moves contract valued at $15.9 million, which was approved.
Documents published on Tuesday indicated that the consultancy agency was unable to execute all activities outlined in its initial scope of work because of the evolution of the Jamaica Moves programme concept. The company said, however, that it conducted other activities such as the ‘Get Moving Challenge’ and the ‘Corporate Challenge’.
Subsequent correspondence from the ministry’s office of the principal finance officer indicated that the Finance Division sought clarification in writing on gaps in the deliverables.
It is unclear whether that clarification was forthcoming.
When the ministry attempted to extend the contract in May 2019, the Public Procurement Commission objected, noting that there was no evidence that value for money had been achieved from the first arrangement and that Market Me had not met the minimum required score of 70 in the bid document. Market Me had scored 65.
However, Bryan and his team pressed the commission to reverse its decision, arguing that going to the open market would have disrupted the Jamaica Moves programme, which was officially launched in April 2017. The PPC backtracked on its decision after the ministry reduced the contract period from two years to one.
The renewed contract was worth $38.9 million.