The United Bermuda Party yesterday dismissed claims that Government inherited flawed plans to build the new senior secondary school from the former UBP Government, and claimed that the blame must lie with the contractor for not pointing out those flaws in a timely manner.

But contractor Pro-Active Management Systems responded by repeating a call for a public inquiry into the disputed contract.

Shadow Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin pointed out yesterday that the UBP lost power in 1998 to the Progressive Labour Party and that Pro-Active Management Systems' contract to build the school began in 2001.

“So even if everything was flawed any contractor worth his salt can look at a set of plans and know if something has gone wrong,” she said.

“If the Government chose to change the plan, the contractor and the technical officers would have been able to make that determination sooner rather than later. To fault the UBP three years after the fact is asinine and unacceptable.”

Pro-Active's advisors have argued that flawed plans which had to be reworked were a major cause of delays on the project.

The contractor plans to ask an arbitrator to declare the termination of the contract unlawful.

“I am not in Bermuda to play politics with UBP's Gordon-Pamplin or anybody else. She has her role to play and I wish her well,” said Pro-Active spokesperson Julian Hall.

“You can't blame politicians for design and engineering flaws, these are matters for the technical officers in the civil service.

“What is becoming increasingly clear is that she, like many others in Bermuda, need to research the actual facts before they open their mouths. She needs to develop a clear understanding of the magnitude of engineering and design flaws that were inherent in the project before the change of Government. It may well be that these facts are not available to her - I don't know. But I do know that on this issue, and with the greatest respect to Patricia, she has no idea what she's talking about. Perhaps a public inquiry might help.”