Recently there have been statements made in the public domain by Anthony Leblanc of Ace Engineering which seem to suggest that the procurement process followed for the captioned project was manipulated and flawed, a statement which undoubtedly impute improper motive on the Technical Staff of the Ministry.
Such statements are not only deliberately harmful and misleading, but is also a blatant attack on the integrity and professionalism of the Technical Staff of the Ministry of Public Works, Energy and Ports.
In fact the procurement process that was followed was competitive, transparent and consistent with the best practices in the construction industry.
In this regard therefore, the following provide the background of the facts of the selection process in question:-
(1) Proposed Works
-Construction of 45 m of reinforced concrete wall from the West Bridge and proceeding westwards to the Supermarket
-Dredging of the river channel within the area (between DC Bridge and West Bridge)
(2) The Ministry of Public Works, Energy and Ports estimate for the Works was EC$657,478.00.
(3) The Contractors that were on March 28, 2014 invited to bid were
-ACE Engineering Ltd.
-George Trucking & Excavation Services
-Edghill Fortune Associates Ltd.
-F & C Construction Ltd.
-Public Works Corporation
-UNIQUE Construction Ltd.
-Caribbean Concrete Ltd.
-Bakes Blocks & Construction Co. Ltd.
(4) Bids were received (on April 19, 2014) from the following contractors and/or contracting firms:-
-ACE Engineering Ltd. – $452,192.12
-George Trucking – $560,176.50
-Public Works Corporation – $474,671.66
-UNIQUE Construction Ltd. – $646,610.50
-Caribbean Concrete Ltd. – $658,961.50
(5) Process of Evaluation
-Documents checked for administrative compliance
-Documents checked for arithmetic errors
-Bidders submissions were also checked for the distribution of rates versus that of the Ministry of Public Works, Energy and Ports
-Final corrected bid amounts were checked versus estimate from the Ministry of Public Works, Energy and Ports
-For further consideration, the submissions from the bidders should fall between +5% of the Engineer’s estimate and end -15% of Engineers estimate, that is, between 558,856.00 and $690,352.00.
As a result of the above the following bids were considered too low;
-ACE Engineering Ltd. – $452,192.12
-Public Works Corporation – $474,671.66
The bid submitted by UNIQUE Construction was within the recommended price range but for duration of double (28 weeks) of the recommended 14 weeks.
From the remaining two bidders, George Trucking and Excavation Services provided the lowest bid and was selected.
We further submit that the principal items of construction works are
-Reinforced Concrete construction
-Excavation in rock
The rate recommended by the Technical Staff of the Ministry of Public Works, Energy and Ports were as follows:-
-Reinforced concrete (supply and placing) EC$800/m³
-Excavation in rock EC$120/m³
Bakes Block and Construction Ltd
