Tendered contract sparks outrage
Spontaneous protests broke out around the territory last week after contractors learned that the Ministry of Communications and Works had tendered one of the 401 contracts it awarded this year.
“This is outrageous!” said a builder picketing in front of the Central Administration Building on Monday. “I would have loved to get that contract, but I’d rather eat thumbtacks than enter a competitive bidding process.”
He was among about 100 people chanting and waving signs with various messages: “Tenders are for Turkeys;” “Go Petty or Go Home;” and “No Bids — or No Votes.”
The protestors are demanding that the ministry cancel the tendered project — a $499,500 engineering consultancy awarded to a St. Lucia firm — and break it up into dozens of no-bid petty contracts to be distributed to “the small man.”
“That’s how business has always been done in the Virgin Islands,” the builder said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Indeed, contract splitting has been standard practice in the territory for decades, with legislators standing strong in the face of mounting evidence that it wastes taxpayer money and leads to shoddy workmanship and egregious delays.
On edge
The news of the tendered contract comes at a time when many VI contractors have been on edge.
Recent signs, they say, have made them worry that major changes could be in the works.
Last year, for example, the government signed the Protocols for Effective Financial Management, an agreement with the United Kingdom that is designed to hold government accountable for public spending.
But contractors maintain that such measures are very badly timed, considering the struggling economy.
“At times like these, every dollar counts,” a protestor said. “This is simply not the time for accountability.”
Though she did receive several petty contracts this year, they didn’t bring in enough to purchase a badly needed new Hummer, she added.
“So now I’m still driving my 2010 Volvo,” she said, before quipping, “If the ministry keeps tendering contracts, my next car will probably be a Subaru.”
Apology
For his part, Mr. Vanterpool was apologetic. The contract had to be tendered, he explained, because it was funded by a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank.
Citing the 400 no-bid contracts that were awarded by his ministry this year, he assured contractors that competitive bidding would not become standard practice in the VI.
But protestors were not appeased.
“Today, it’s one out of 401; tomorrow it’s two out of 401,” a road works contractor said. “The next thing you know, 10 or 15 contracts are being tendered in a year. We can’t allow the government to start down this slippery slope!”
To illustrate his frustration, the contractor gave a personal example. In the past, he said, roadwork could be carried out with a few cans of black paint and a pair of $4-per-hour labourers.
“You’d charge the government a couple million, and then you’d have your guys paint the road black,” he said. “The road would look great for a few weeks, and your profit margin would be huge.”
Such contracts are particularly beneficial, he added, because they often “keep on giving.”
“The next heavy rain would wash away the paint, and so you’d get the same contract again a few months later,” he explained. “That’s what we mean when we say that government needs to help the small man.”
Such lucrative deals, contractors said, are impossible under the strict rules required by competitive bidding.
“If government keeps it up, we’ll have to take risks, compete with other companies, and provide value for money,” he added. “It’s unthinkable.”
Demands
The protestors plan to continue their demonstrations until the ministry meets a list of demands:
• stop all business with the CDB and give back its “dirty” loan money;
• destroy the Protocols for Effective Financial Management in a public burning ceremony at Wickhams Cay;
• pledge never to tender any contract again; and
• hand out petty contracts for the construction of at least a dozen retaining walls in each district by the end of the month.
“If they meet our demands, they’ll at least have a chance of getting re-elected in 2015,” said a contractor who has taken a leadership role in the protests. “But we’re not making any promises.”
Disclaimer: Dateline: Paradise is a column and occasionally contains satirical “news” articles that are entirely fictional.
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