RADA under fire

Auditor general cites contract missteps in multimillion-dollar road projects

A PERFORMANCE audit by the chief guardian of state expenditure has uncovered practices by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in which the agency has paid scant regard to government guidelines in the awarding of contracts valuing hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Pamela Monroe Ellis-led Auditor General’s Department, in a report tabled yesterday in Parliament, stated that RADA’s process of selecting contractors was not always transparent or competitive.

Over the period 2015-2016 to 2018-2019, Monroe Ellis said her department reviewed 112 road-rehabilitation contracts valued at $1.6 billion, but noted that RADA used the local competitive bidding (LCB) methodology for only four contracts valued at $90.8 million.

At the same time, RADA utilised the limited tender (LT) methodology for 75 contracts (67 per cent), valuing $1.04 billion.

“RADA was unable to indicate the basis on which contractors were preselected for invitation to bid on road-rehabilitation contracts,” the auditor general stated.

Additionally, in six instances, RADA used the LT methodology to award contracts valuing $129.8 million, despite the procurement guidelines not being met. This denied other qualified contractors the opportunity to participate in the procurement process, the auditor general observed.

The agriculture agency also utilised the direct procurement and emergency methodologies for 33 contracts, amounting to $520.93 million, although the allowable circumstances permitting the direct and emergency procurement methodologies were not met.

Giving details, Monroe Ellis said that in 25 of the 33 direct and emergency contracts, valuing $401 million (77 per cent of the contracts), RADA’s justification for the use of these methodologies did not conform with the procurement guidelines.