Government risked being ripped off when they failed to shop around for a contractor to complete repairs in Dockyard after Hurricane Fabian, Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley has claimed.

And Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent confirmed that Government is currently reviewing the tendering process for Government contracts.

Government's reasoning that the only contractors available to complete the repairs to the Dockyard foreshore were Correia Construction is “absolute nonsense”, according to Mr. Dunkley.

In written questions to Mr. DeVent, Opposition leader Grant Gibbons asked who else bid on the contract to repair the damage.

Mr. DeVent responded: “There were no competitive bidding in the conventional manner due to the unavailability of marine contractors with adequate resources to complete the sophisticated aspects of the work and to meet the time restraints associated with this year's cruise ship season which started in April, and also it was generally known that most contractors were heavily committed to other Hurricane Fabian related work.”

When asked last week by The Royal Gazette, Mr. DeVent said the decision to hire Correia was one made by the West End Development Corporation (Wedco), a Government quango under the umbrella of the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

Immediate work was needed, he said, and Correia had done work for Wedco in the same area before. “They were satisfied with their ability to do the job ... It was a Wedco thing.”

But a spokesperson from Anchor Marine said the company definitely would have bid on the contract had it been put out to tender, while another contractor said: “At least three of us are upset about it”.

Anchor Marine, a marine contractor, has done work along the foreshore, the spokesperson said. In fact, about 150 feet of foreshore to the left of the cruise ship terminal which is still standing after the hurricane is the work of Anchor Marine.

And it is understood the company conducted several written and two video surveys of the area in recent years which they submitted to Government recommending changes which allegedly could have strengthened the area. The spokesperson said Anchor Marine is “very familiar” with the Dockyard foreshore.

“We definitely would have bid had the opportunity arisen.”

Whether or not they were capable of the job was not the point, he added, as all contractors should have at least had the opportunity to attempt a bid.

However Mr. DeVent, while agreeing that is what happens in most cases, maintained that this time was different because of the immediate time constraints and the specifics of the job. “They (Correia) were confident they could complete the job in a satisfactory manner.”

Mr. Dunkley said Government's reasoning for giving the contract to Correia Construction was: “Absolute nonsense ...”

Saying he had nothing against Correia Construction, Mr. Dunkley said the firm has a good reputation and has completed “a lot of quality work” on the Island.

Works and Engineering were asked in writing last week to give a list of all Government jobs which were awarded to Correia Construction.

Questions on the tendering process for Government construction contracts, who has control over the awarding of those contracts, what happened with the Dockyard contract and if there have been instances in the past when contracts have not been put out to tender were e-mailed to the Government spokesperson for Works and Engineering last week, including the question of whether or not control over the awarding of the Dockyard contract fell completely with the Minister of Works and Engineering. Despite repeated queries, those questions remained unanswered last night.

Instead, Works and Engineering Permanent Secretary Russell Wade revealed last week that the Purchasing and Tendering Committee is reviewing all aspects of Government construction contracts, and that he did not wish to give away any information contrary to what the Committee decides.

“The Ministry is reviewing the entire tendering process with a view to making it even more transparent ... the general intent is to make it more transparent and available to those previously excluded,” Mr. DeVent told The Royal Gazette.

He also said that all Government construction contracts come under the umbrella of Works and Engineering, and that no other Ministry or Minister could be involved.

Opposition leader Grant Gibbons said last week that the former UBP Government developed a policy for tendering in the mid-1990s.

Though he admitted he could not recall off the top of his head what the exact criteria was, he said large projects above a certain amount were put out to open tender. He could not say for sure if any projects had been awarded under the UBP without being put to tender after that policy was in place, however said if that had occurred, it would have been against Cabinet policy and would have to have had Cabinet approval.

During the CedarBridge project, he said, a tender was put out for a construction manager, who then coordinated hundreds of smaller companies involved in the project to allow opportunities to be spread around.

Noting the PLP “ranted incessantly” when they came into office about proper controls over Government contracts, Mr. Dunkley said this went against all their philosophy about open Government and “the sunshine of public scrutiny”.

In light of that philosophy, it was surprising that the PLP had not announced that progress was being made on the repairs, he said, adding that Government did not usually miss such opportunities to lay their successes before the public. “I would've thought they would've made a Ministerial statement, rather than us find out this way.”

Reading between the lines, he said there was a real potential that Government was not getting good value for their money, as it appeared that without other quotes for comparison Government could not be certain it was getting the best price.

“And we're not talking about lunch money here,” he said. “This is just under $4 million.” Mr. DeVent wrote that the exact contract sum was $3,755,230.00.

A statement from Correia Construction said the price for the job was negotiated and audited, and found to be “at fair market value”.

However one contractor, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were at least three other firms which were interested in the job and could have offered quotes for Government to shop around with.

“Nobody saw that job,” the contractor told The Royal Gazette this week. “It was not advertised, nobody was contacted, the only time I knew about it was when another contractor called me and asked what was going on.”

Works and Engineering has a mandate to put such jobs out to tender, he said. Usually they will contact contractors first to warn them the job being put to tender, then advertise the job to allow anyone else interested to make a bid.

When such jobs are done privately, private engineers and an architectural firm are usually involved and get a minimum of three prices to compare the numbers, he said.

“This would suggest they (Government) probably didn't get the best deal by not having competitive bidding.”

And, he added, to suggest that Correia Construction was the only contractor with the “adequate resources” to finish the job on time was, “I would've thought, incorrect”.

As far as he could tell, he said, no floating equipment has been used in the repairs, meaning the job could have been extended to general contractors, not just marine contractors. A marine contractor could have been subbed in to the job for their expertise, he said. The spokesperson from Anchor Marine agreed.

And, despite it being more than two months past the start of the cruise ship season in April, the contractor said the job did not appear to be completed.

Mr. DeVent agreed the work was not completed, but pointed out enough had been done to allow the cruise ships to come back, which was the main priority.

As for the suggestion that “most contractors were heavily committed to other Hurricane Fabian-related work”, both the contractor and Anchor Marine said that excuse did not wash as all Bermuda's construction industry has been committed to Hurricane Fabian repairs, but still may have been able to manage or at least offer a different option.

The job was enormous and could have given some small contractors the chance to grow, the contractor said. As it stands, he estimated Correia has sub-contracted about 50 percent of the job out.

“There was definitely more than one (contractor) available.”

Though the company was originally unwilling to comment on the matter, Correia Construction released a statement yesterday which said they originally built the cruise ship dock and terminal in Dockyard for Wedco.

“Following Hurricane Fabian, Correia Construction was called in due to the emergency situation and the damage caused at Wedco,” Dennis Correia said. “The time frame discussed was for different phases of the project.

“The price for the job was negotiated. An independent and separate survey was carried out by Woodbourne Associates to audit the price submitted to Wedco by Correia Construction and our prices were found to be at fair market value.

“Correia Construction had the piles and the materials on the Island and also had the expertise, equipment and labour to carry out these repairs.”