Government comes clean on awarding of consultancy post
Derrick Binns, the Head of the Public Service, gave permission for a foreign contractor to be given a $29,000-a-month Cabinet Office contract, it was revealed yesterday.
A government spokeswoman shared the information with The Royal Gazette about the contract awarded last August to Cyberdine — having previously failed to answer questions about why it was given without a competitive bids process.
Last week, the same government spokeswoman said Christopher Warner, the Canadian owner of Cyberdine, was “providing services that do not include the role of Deputy Chief Information Officer” at the Department of Information and Digital Technologies — despite him claiming on LinkedIn to hold that position.
But yesterday she said IDT had an “unsuccessful recruitment for the role of Deputy Chief Information Officer several months ago, as well as other vacancies in key areas” and so “steps were taken to identify interim resources to provide support”.
The spokeswoman said the accounting officer for the department followed “all the appropriate and relevant approvals” before the contract was given to Cyberdine.
“Specifically, an approval was obtained from the Head of the Public Service via a process that requires the support of an application to engage a consultant,” she said.
The Royal Gazette first reported on April 14 that Cyberdine was awarded the contract without a tender or request for proposal process.
The article noted that government rules require all contracts of $100,000 or more to go through a competitive procurement process, unless a waiver is granted by the Office of Project Management and Procurement.
The Gazette asked the Government before the article was published if the OPMP had granted a waiver allowing the tender process to be bypassed and, if so, on what grounds. The spokeswoman did not respond to the question last week, despite several requests for her to do so.
We also asked the public access to information officer at IDT if a waiver was given and if he could share it. He told us: “I think you would have to make a Pati request of the OPMP for that.”
The government spokeswoman said yesterday that the process followed for the Cyberdine contract was “outlined in Financial Instructions and it is a process that differs from that of contracting a contractor or vendor”.
She added: “Therefore, to be clear, the consultant was engaged in keeping with all processes and procedures.”
The spokeswoman said another recruitment exercise for the Deputy Chief Information Officer post recently finished and "it is anticipated the post will soon be filled“.
She said the job of Chief Information Security Officer — another role Mr Warner said he had filled, albeit virtually — would also soon be advertised.
The spokeswoman said Cyberdine was hired to “fill an interim need” and “perform related government duties as directed during this period”.
The Government issued more details about the Cyberdine contract yesterday in response to criticism from Opposition leader Cole Simons.
Mr Simons alleged in a statement issued on Monday that financial regulations were flouted with the awarding of a Cabinet Office contract to the Canadian IT firm without it being putting out to tender.
But the One Bermuda Alliance politician appeared to have misunderstood the Gazette’s original report, which did not say rules were broken but that the Government had failed to answer questions about why the contract was sole-sourced.
Mr Simons misquoted Auditor-General Heather Thomas, claiming that she “clearly stated that the contract for the Virtual Chief Information Security Officer was given by the Government devoid of the competitive process”.
Ms Thomas did not say that and the Gazette did not quote her as saying it.
The Gazette asked Ms Thomas if the contract had been reported to her office and/or if she was looking into it.
She said there had been no referral to her office.
The Office of Project Management and Procurement is the public authority that grants waivers allowing sole-source contracts.
But the Government said yesterday it followed a different process for the Cyberdine contract — as set out in official Financial Instructions — with approval coming from Derrick Binns, the Head of the Public Service.
An OBA spokeswoman said last night: “Mr Simons has nothing further to say on the matter at this time.”
Opposition MP Michael Dunkley said yesterday he had been told by “sources” that qualified Bermudians applied for the deputy job and were rejected.
He said: “They didn’t like the applicants they got … and then they changed the position to a consultant.”
He questioned why a government that was in serious debt and which talked “about providing opportunities for Bermudians” would do that.
“It’s taking payroll away from government coffers; it makes no sense,” he said.
The Gazette asked the Government for a response to his comments and for details of how many Bermudians applied for the deputy job, but there was no response by press time.
The contract between Cyberdine and IDT between August 10, 2022 and January 31 was for $179,000 or about $29,000 a month. It was renewed for four months after it ended and the company is now receiving $23,750 a month for cybersecurity services.
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