Deep Corruption

BY ERICA VIRTUE Sunday Observer writer virtuee@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, November 07, 2010

THE certification and re-registration process for contractors seeking government contracts has become so mired in corruption that Contractor General Greg Christie said his office will now perform forensic examinations of each application.

Christie last week told a joint select committee of Parliament examining his annual report that some contractors have so falsified the details of professionals required for their outfits that the applications of all 2,340 contractors — 540 of whom are works contractors — are being examined individually.

"We are having a lot of problems with this because what we have found is that the process is mired in corruption. I spoke to the prime minister about it because we have been constantly changing our processes because of the corrupt who survive among us," Christie charged.

Currently there are 32 categories for works contractors, and five grades, with grade five being the highest. The remaining 1,800 contractors are service providers.

Christie said corruption had so seeped into the process that applicants were paying professionals between $50,000 and $100,000 to lend their credentials to their outfits, in order to maintain registration at a particular grade.

"We get the application form and they have John Brown, graduate of University of Technology with a Bachelor's in civil engineering, and working with me for three years full time, because for a grade one you have to have certain full-time staff," he explained.

But according to Christie, some of the contractors' claims are false.

"When you check those people now, you call them up they say 'no, I don't work with that guy'. Or, you find out that those persons don't exist. We have been finding that out over the last two years," Christie said.

"We are here to make a guess to say probably more than 50 per cent of the contractors who are registered today are registered on the basis of false representations. And those application forms must be sworn in front of a justice of the peace and that applicant, to be true and accurate," the contractor general said.

When the Sunday Observer contacted Raymond Cooper, president of the Incorporated Master Builders Association (IMBA), for a comment he admitted that there are difficulties, however, he said that some of the claims can be explained.

Cooper said the grading of contractors is set by the National Contracts Commission (NCC).

"We enquired of the NCC and the OCG (Office of the Contractor General) and we were told that they have found some discrepancies in applications and they are now moving to a more stringent inspection and examination of the applications," Cooper said. "They want to check every application and the details surrounding those applications."

But the process, he said, was time-consuming.

Re-registration normally takes four to six weeks, but Cooper said some IMBA members complained of slowness, which posed difficulties.

Contractors not registered with the NCC cannot get government work, he said.

"We are seeking a meeting with the NCC to look at some of the terms of the requirements for re-registration," added Cooper. "We have asked them to make public announcements about the process. Because it is rigourous, it takes more time, so maybe people need to submit their re-application three months before to prevent any period of inactivity."

In his presentation to the joint select committee, Christie admitted to a backlog, stating that the process must now undergo "forensic assessment" to root out the corrupt among them. The backlog should be cleared in less than a month, he said, adding that corruption had so seeped into the process, it only became discernible under the stringent verification process.

According to Christie, "a grade one contractor is a contractor who you are certifying has the competence; financial resources; assets; human resources; and human technical professionals to construct like a Jamaica Pegasus Hotel".

Grade one contractors can be awarded contracts of $150 million or more, grade two, $75 million-$149 million; grade three, between $40 million and $74 million; grade four, between $5 million and $39 million.

The IMBA wants some contractors, including those who have been registered over a 10-year period at a particular grade, to be given some priority in the re-registration process.

Cooper said the IMBA also wants contractors, who have evidence that they have applied for re-registration, to be allowed to tender for jobs at the level at which they had previously been registered.

Cooper said the issue of required personnel needed refining as a $150-million project may require six engineers and 400 workers at a particular time, but it would be unnecessary to retain them full-time on a $90-million contract which required 50 workers.

Christie said a grade five contractor "is the one you call in when there is a zinc roof leak at a school canteen".

He said his office must be vigilant to prevent a grade three contractor from being certified as a grade one contractor, "as that would foist an under-resourced, inexperienced and incompetent contractor on the Jamaican taxpayers, which invariably leads to costs and time over-runs and defective workmanship."

The result could cause buildings to collapse and loss of lives, especially given Jamaica's susceptibility to adverse weather conditions.

But Cooper said it was not fair to conclude that the absence of full-time technical staff could render the integrity of some structures suspect.

"Because they are not full-time it does not mean we do not have access to their services when we need them," he said, adding that a balance needed to be found.

Committee member Fitz Jackson suggested that the OCG considers certifying contractors over a three-year period, but with provisions for a contractor to file to the office, any change in the initial information presented.

Jackson also wants the penalties for submitting false information to be punitive to prevent falsification.

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