Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the award of a $40m National Petroleum Marketing Company (NP) contract to a garbage collection outfit in east Trinidad, for the lease of 20 tractor trucks (tank wagons) has not been brought to her attention nor that of the Cabinet."These contracts do not come to the Cabinet and sometimes you will find out after the fact through a leakage somewhere, and what it means is that we have to get the procurement legislation."We have it before the Parliament, before a Joint Select Committee (JSC)...and we need to get it working," she said.
Persad-Bissessar was responding to reporters yesterday at the opening ceremony of the Maraval Access Road (intersection at Long Circular and Saddle Roads).In a pre-action protocol letter sent to the Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan on Thursday, CDS Transport Ltd asked that the minister "investigate, and have NP show and justify" why they were "overlooked" for the provision of a service which "they have been performing with distinction (for NP) over the years."CDS alleged that although they had tendered "the lowest bid" and had "the best track record and experience," they were not determined as the "preferred bidder" and contended that NP's decision to do so was "clearly not" based on merit.The PM said she was not in a position to respond regarding the contract because she did not have that information and would need to pursue the matter.
She said there was need to procure the award of these state contracts to prevent the possibility of creating a scandal."When these processes take place outside the Cabinet arena through State boards and special purpose companies, we must have a proper mechanism for tracking and that is what these things have shown," she said Pressed by reporters to confirm whether a particular contractor (whose name was disclosed to the PM) had in fact won the bid, Persad-Bissessar reiterated that she had not been au fait with the matter."I don't know who has the contract...That is what I am saying," the PM said.