President of the Builders and Contractors Association of Dominica (BCAD), Anthony Leblanc, has accused the government of ignoring the Procurement Act in awarding public contracts. Leblanc said the government awards most construction contracts to foreign companies who did not bid for them, while companies in the country are sidelined.
He said if the Skerrit-led DLP administration continues to give out construction projects to foreign companies who did not necessarily tender for them, it will amount to spurning the guidelines and provisions outlined in the Procurement Act, and local construction companies and workers will suffer more for it.
“When there’s no bidding, the government is getting a raw deal,” Leblanc said. “And anybody who goes out to just buy from one place without looking at the prices from other places, and supply the goods and services, is not getting a good deal. It means we’re paying more taxes and we’re squandering our resources and everything.”
Leblanc urged the government to follow due procedure to ensure that national resources are well-managed. According to him, BCAD had communicated their concerns to the Permanent Secretaries in the Ministries of Housing, Public Works, and Finance among other senior public servants.
“We continue to advocate for public procurement, transparency and allowing the local construction sector to provide services to the government,” Leblanc lamented. “What we have done in the months of June and July is that we have written to senior public officers, and permanent secretaries in various ministries so as to have it on record that the general body of contractors are concerned that local contractors are more or less barred from submitting bids and tenders for construction works ongoing in the country and contracted out by the government.”
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