I am very pleased to hear that Premier Cox has started moves to centralise and professionalise many of Government’s tendering and contracting activities. (See some of my earlier posts on the matter, including Cayman’s solution.) If done properly, this will improve “value for money” and fairness in Government expenditures. It will also reduce the likelihood [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Contracting'
Berkeley Fallout Continues
May 14th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics
The Premier has just announced that Government will not pursue collection of the $6.8 million bond owed to it by a subsidiary of the BIU related to the troubled Berkeley Institute redevelopment. As normal, he’s spinning the number. The sum actually due to Government was in excess of $15 million when interest was counted. Plus, [...]
Tags:BIU·Contracting
Beneficial Owners
March 31st, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics
The rumble has quietened down over the identity the beneficiaries of the trust involved in the troubled courthouse project. One side says we should have transparency. The other says we can do what we want, nanny nanny booboo. It is interesting to see the Bermuda Government’s newly expanded AML/ATF requirements for financial institutions that do [...]
Tags:AML/ATF·Contracting·courthouse
Degrees of Separation
March 29th, 2009 · Comments Off · Bermuda Politics
The Royal Gazette has published more information on some of the shortcuts and shortcomings of the courthouse project, confirming some of the rumours that have been flying around this gossipy little community. I predict that the tangled veil over this project will continue to haunt Bermuda, like its predecessor at Berkeley. It’s silly because, if [...]
Tags:Contracting·courthouse
Secret Society
March 21st, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Transparency
You have to question if Government are really serious about Public Access to Information (PATI). Last week, the Premier announced that Cabinet would post the details on some of the major contracts it grants. Which led to the obvious question: “how will those contracts be tendered?” Which led to the Premier’s press secretary Glenn Jones [...]
Tags:Contracting·FOIA·PATI
Baby Steps
March 18th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Media, Transparency
The Premier announced that all contracts awarded by Cabinet will appear in the Official Gazette beginning April Fools Day. Contract details like the name of the contractor, the services to be provided, the amount of the contract, whether it was tendered or sole sourced, and the Ministry providing the funding will also be listed. Dr. [...]
Tags:Contracting·FOIA·PATI
Beneficial Ownership
March 16th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Transparency
The TCI commission has allowed a peek into the sordid side of small island politics. The Turks case has involved a massive web of front companies, allegedly used to obscure the involvement of prominent individuals in deals with the Government. The Commission has recommended a list of steps to rectify the situation. Most are plain [...]
Tags:AML/ATF·Contracting·courthouse
Public Tenders
February 25th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transparency
Some positive news from the Budget. Works & Engineering will launch in the next year a procurement website to provide “equal bidding opportunities for all contractors seeking Government work”. That’s a positive development and long overdue. Some thoughts: Why just W&E? This should be used for ALL government procurements. The procurement of the procurement website [...]
Tags:Contracting
Contracting Weakness
July 29th, 2008 · No Comments · Accountability
I hear from friends in the public sector that the Cabinet Office welcomes the opportunity to get involved at the detail level in Government’s procurement and contracting. If true, this is just begging to create political conflict of interest, waste, and over-expenditure. Some may say this Cabinet’s role. No, it isn’t. Their role is to [...]
Tags:Contracting