Ministry denies collusion in waste project bid
George Town Dump, Grand Cayman
(CNS): Following allegations by the opposition and persistent questions surrounding the integrity of the tender process for the government’s long-planned new Integrated Solid Waste Management System (ISWMS), the Ministry of Health has denied that there was anything wrong with the bidding and has refuted allegations of collusion among bidders. However, in response to inquiries by CNS, officials confirmed that one company involved in the pre-qualification process that was not cleared to bid because it did not meet the criteria is now involved in the DECCO-led consortium which was selected as the preferred partner.
At the end of last month, Opposition Leader Ezzard Miller issued a statement accusing government of ignoring its own legislation when it comes to good governance, and in one example cited the possible collusion of bidders on the waste-management process.
But last week the ministry issued a denial, stating that it had followed a competitive dialogue procurement process for the ISWMS project.
“This began with a pre-qualification process to ensure that the seven firms which responded to the request for tenders met the necessary technical and financial requirements to go on to the next stage of the procurement process. The ministry then sat down separately with all three firms that qualified, to discuss potential solutions to the challenges that solid waste management faces in the Cayman Islands. The qualified firms were then required to submit outline solutions that were evaluated by the ISWMS project team, followed by final tender submissions by April 2017,” ministry officials said.
They said that one of those three firms did not submit a final tender, but denied any collusion. “Clauses against collusion in the procurement process meant that qualified firms were not allowed to combine submissions into one,” the officials stated.
But following requests for clarification by CNS, the ministry admitted that one of the original seven is now involved in the winning bid led by the Dart-owned firm, DECCO.
“One of the consortium partners put in a separate Pre-Qualification Questionaire (PQQ) submission at the PQQ and did not get short-listed because they did not meet the financial requirements of the PQQ requirements. The PQQ stage was where 7 PQQ company submissions were shortlisted down to 3 firms,” officials told us.
Government remains in negotiations with the preferred bidder, DECCO, to finalise a contract but those talks have now lasted more than a year. During the meeting of the Legislative Assembly last week on Cayman Brac Health minister Dwayne Seymour, who is responsible for waste management, said the talks were expect to go on until next March.
Meanwhile, speculation is mounting that Roydell Carter, the director of the Department of Environmental Health, which is still responsible for the landfill and garbage collection, could soon be receiving a pay-off.
The dump boss has been on some form of mysterious paid leave for almost a year but he appears set to be the next top civil servant to receive an undisclosed payment of public money to settle whatever dispute had arisen at the dump that has never been outlined by the government.
Category: Environmental Health, Health, Politics
If anyone on this island thinks he is immune to cancer,and the Dump is the main cause of it, they are fools.
Regardless of where you live, east or west end, in a mansion or a shack, it will find you. You can not hide from the Dump’s toxicity. It is everywhere. Land, sea, air, water, vegetation, etc.
The monster you created is here to stay, capped or not.
All the money you made working in Grand Cayman would be spent on cancer treatments, just recall Walter White fate(Breaking bad). Unless you are a Cayman, then it is free, but there’s no cure remember? Just “survival” rates.
Am I a scaremonger? Read obituaries.
So all these”battles” about who will get the Dump fixed are just waste of time. In the end, rich or poor would prematurely end up in the same place.
How many expats had left the country to die from cancer in their home countries? I personally know 2. Both in their early 40s.
Roydell Carter is not the only one poised for a payoff.
Meanwhile, cancer rates skyrocket, leaching continues and Ezzard fills the atmosphere with damaging greenhouse gases. Grow up and fix the damn dump Ezzard!
Friggin Russians!
Friggin Russians mingling again , and why aren’t they calling on the Government that is responsible for fixing the dump . That’s got to be Putten telling him that .
Why won’t you leave Russian people alone? Many live and work in your country teaching you music and anatomy, accountants and auditors etc.. You don’t like when Jamaican people are singled out. So leave race and nationalities alone.
Hmmm. So if I understand this correctly some company applied to be vetted to submit a bid for the project. They failed to qualify and as such never had any meaningful interaction with Government on their own. They did join the consortium which submitted one of two final bids, and which was named the preferred, although not yet successful, bidder. Maybe there is really nothing to see– in this instance, at least.
That is my friend standing near the sign that says this way to the landfill. That person is the boss for the dump my friend. If you want to know all what is going on in enviromental health check my friend. My friend is the right hand to the director my friend run things in enviromental health my friend should be the director by now.
Comment free.
I hope Dart does not impose taxation on us?
He’ll do whatever he wants to do.
4:40pm , when he demands his money from government , it would have to come from somewhere or somehow . I don’t know if I would live to see it , I hope and pray I will , but you can mark my words , it will happen .
Does anyone know how much MONEY that the Government OWES to Dart today ? Or if the government OWES him any money today ?
How many dui ex-politicians do you know?
More than you would care to hear about.
No masonic collusion here. That’s just for fairies and tinfoil hat merchants, right?
How long can you keep the lid on this thing?
It’s a disgrace what is happening in this country. The Port Authority scandal, NRA fiasco, OfReg boxing match, DOE sewage, CIFA lack of balls and let’s not forget HSA heart attack.we all paying for all these and yet no one from the public or government is demanding answers. Is this the norm?
You forgot high schools and colleges. They are jobs for more friends and incompetents. People making double salaries, human resources being done by people with no experience to make sure all their friends are hired. It is not going to end well except for those looting the place. They will go off to thier next victim.
Yes it is the norm and unless something concrete gets out to the local press, it will continue to be the norm.
I think that with all the incompetence and corruption that is going on in the government and Departments , the people are going to have to step in and make them do the right thing.
Just look at the things that just happened in the last 48hours , heavy machinery disturbing turtle nests , nothing done , and big boat wash a shore and damage coral reef , and sounds like DOE wants to cover that up too , and allot more that haven’t made it yet to the News Room .
how many phone calls were there between dart and govt asking what to put in the bid. chile please. From head of DOT to VP of Marketing you all are looking in the wrong place.
Total BS some of us were forced off island to keep us away from this project
I’m afreyed you brought that on yourself old chap.
Mind your own knickers slick, your time is coming.
Idle threats are not going to get you that hot dog trolley back.
Hopefully the airplane door hit you on the way out.
This reminds me of Frank Drebin trying to tell everyone “Nothing to see here. Please disperse. There is nothing to see here, please.”
Also, on the matter of Mr. Carter, the Director, I think the DG is due for another apology to the public about this process.
I am happy that things at DEH have improved recently though.
Surely more local involvement is a good thing, right Ezzard?
LOL
How can working together with Decco & CHEC be collusion? These premier companies are going to get our projects done at a fair price and great quality. Instead of always complaining these naysayers need to help our Unity team.
Hooray for Decco and the Unity team. They will get things done!
Sarcasm 4.58…..right…?
8:19pm , that wasn’t sarcasm, that was hogwash and ignorance .
Any chance we could learn which that unqualified business is? Even better, who owns it?
just let dart do it, he wants to do it and will do it properly….for free!!!!
or we can spend the next 15 years talking about the same nonsense and nothing gets done
Are you kidding me? What has Dart ever done for FREE? Don’t know where you live but for the rest of us and future generations, we will be paying for some of his “projects” for the rest of our lives and then some.
For those who don’t realize what kind of person Kenneth Dart really is, just read some facts about him on Wikipedia’s website. They don’t call him “Vulture” for nothing!
11:20 if it was not for DART you and your (future generations would have no projects, nothing to pay for ) bet that makes you happy!
Sounds like Cayman islands needs a new and clean government instead of new Governor . I didn’t know that much corruption could exist .
#LeggeWasRight
Legge said YOU were corrupt. (If you’re Caymanian. Which I assume he excluded himself from when it was convenient that day.)
Actually, he didn’t say all Caymanian’s were corrupt, he said corruption was so commonplace that we didn’t even recognise it anymore. He may just have a point – there seems to be a fair swathe of society that doesn’t seem to care when projects don’t go out tender, when the tenders are undermined by bidder collusion, when there is no transparency on the tendering of massive government projects, where a government minister says he is not conflicted because he personally has no stake in something, but is singularly quiet about his family interests. If Legge was wrong, where is the moral outrage? Why do people consistently vote the same politicians involved in this stuff back into office?
Jotnar , you said it right , not even Legge the Author could’ve said it better .
But the People have to get the matter of corruption under control . This is like leaving a bully alone and letting him continue to bully you .
So why do the people keep voting them back in , is a very big and complicated question , when you can’t see right from wrong , and is been brainwashed by the candidate . Come on people it is 2018 and soon be year 2019 , get it up to age and get involved in what is going on in your lives .
We deserve both. Its been like living with an abusive partner for 30 years. The stcokholm syndrome comes into mind why it has lasted so long.
If you’re wondering why this place is constantly failing with the simplest of things, it is because the government is rotting from the top down.
Not rotting, rotten. The job is complete.