SDC says it had no role in Westcon contract awards
Social Development Commission (SDC) Executive Director Dr Dwayne Vernon has sought to distance his organisation from involvement in the procurement of the services of Westcon Construction Limited to carry out works in Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ St Andrew West Central constituency.
Westcon Construction Limited, a company that the Integrity Commission said is managed by Robert Garvin, a business associate of the prime minister’s, is at the centre of alleged conflict of interest shrouding Holness in the wake of a damning report from the country’s chief anti-corruption body.
Holness told the Integrity Commission that he had known Garvin for more than 20 years.
The Integrity Commission has referred a report implicating Holness to the Integrity Commission’s director of corruption prosecution after the oversight body concluded that the prime minister may have influenced the awarding of millions of dollars in government contracts to Westcon Construction between 2006 and 2009.
When Kevon Stephenson, the director of investigations at the Integrity Commission, interviewed Vernon as part of his probe, the SDC boss said: “There is no evidence available to the SDC detailing how Westcon Construction was selected to provide services as the SDC did not procure such services. This was done at the level of the constituency.”
The SDC executive director told Stephenson that “the evidence shows that Westcon Construction was introduced to the SDC by way of a letter from the MP” for St Andrew West Central.
He stressed that there was no evidence of the commission utilising formal tender procedures for the procurement of works and services carried out by Westcon Construction Limited.
In addition, the Office of the Contractor General (OCG), which is now subsumed into the Integrity Commission, was advised that there was no evidence to indicate that any SDC official, officer, employee, or anyone acting on its behalf influenced the award of contracts to Westcon Construction.
In its report, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the Integrity Commission stated that two contracts were awarded by the SDC to Westcon Construction Limited between December 20, 2007, and September 10, 2009.
Both contracts were reported to the OCG by way of the SDC’s quarterly contract award, where it was indicated that the limited tender procurement methodology was utilised for the amount of $375,000 and the sole source procurement methodology for $1.45 million.
Stephenson said that it was instructive to note that Holness advised him that the extent of Westcon Construction’s involvement in the St Andrew West Central Christmas Work Programme in December 2006 was that “Westcon received the payments then would have subsequently paid the supervisors. Westcon was just a medium”.
The director of investigations said he has found evidence that provides grounds “for forming the view that the SDC acted upon the instructions. which were conveyed by the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, by way of letters dated December 20, 2007, and September 23, 2009, and made payments to Westcon Construction Limited ... without the utilisation of the mandatory formal Government of Jamaica procurement procedures”.
Stephenson said that the payments were made by the SDC for works that had reportedly been executed in the constituency of St Andrew West Central.
“The foregoing actions of the SDC, prima facie, amount to a breach of Section 1.2 of the then applicable GOJ Handbook of Public Sector Procurement Guidelines,” the Integrity Commission stated.
“Notwithstanding the fact that the SDC was the implementing agency entrusted with the authority to effect the administration of GOJ contracts and thereby enforce the stipulated formal procurement procedures, the director of investigation concludes that the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, by his admitted recommendation of Westcon Construction Limited, may have influenced the award of the contracts to the mentioned contractor,” Stephenson said.