Tenders for security services and others

DEAREDITOR,

I wrote on this subject sometime in the past. It would appear that our system for the process of tendering for any kind of government services and contracts is based on the lowest tender I therefore wish to use the opportunity to articulate on this ‘to open up the eyes’ of persons in authority and those responsiblefortenderstoget a grip of the realities of low orlowesttender

I am more familiar with security and therefore most of what I will say would be based on security due to the fact that I am a security practitioner in this country for almost four and a half decades.

Ihaveobservedinrecent timesourcompanyhasbeen losingseveralcontractsandI am not complaining nor criticizing nor attacking except that I am trying to highlight a problem in the system of tendering. It goes also for construction- construction of bridges, dams, schools, roads, etc., etc.

We have seen recently, large awards went out to persons who build roads, especially roads in communities where the government budgeted large sums of monies to bring convenience and joy to people.Itisapainfulthingto seeaschoolconstructedand not too longer after construction it begins to collapse.

It is painful to purchase school furniture and to find later that they are of poor quality,itispainfultobuilda wharforstellingandforitto floataway Recently,wesaw the Hon Minister Juan Edghill of the Ministry of Public Works having had to stopmanyroadconstruction projects due to timelines factors, due to poor quality construction, due to u n r e l i a b i l i t y o r commitment, due to not paying the sub-contractors and employees. We know thattheHon.JuanEdghillis a“nononsense”person.

The same goes for security services, persons tendering at the lowest rates and at times some of the newer guys on the block wantingtomakeasmuchas they can and even some older ones constantly tendering below cost. Our company recently lost a majorsecuritycontractbutit went to the lowest bidder But when we did the math, we found that it was grossly below cost taking in to account the national i n s u r a n c e c o s t s , administrative expenses, transport, uniforms, licenses, etc. So how do these companies manage to survive? Some do by unethical and in dishonest ways.

I will highlight some pointshereunder:

1. The Theft of NIS (National Insurance Scheme)hasbecomeamajor revenue earner for some security services and other businessesaswell.

2. The theft of the VAT (Value Added Tax) or underpaying the VAT as if givingpartofitasadonation to the government in an attempt to “pull wool over their eye” from the accurate job that they have to do in thisarea.

3.Stealinglargesumsof the PAYE taxes and again giving a donation to GRA rarelyeverpayingcorporate taxes.

In the case of NIS, the theft of NIS is such a criminal act in my opinion. To steal employees NIS, whichhasbeendeductedand tofailtopayyourTwo-thirds (2/3) as an employer is a ‘mighty killing’ for a dishonest employer Some companies are known to be payingforasmallamountof employeesinordertoobtain the compliance to tender The same for the GRA‘pay forasmallamounttogetthe compliance’. The theft of VAT hampers the country’s development. In addition,