Help desk to be established for beaches and parks contract tender
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government has verified some 450 of 1,500 contractors who were severed from The Bahamas Beaches and Parks Authority last month, said chairman of the board McKell Bonaby yesterday.
Bonaby, who spoke to reporters in front of Parliament, was providing an update on the investigation into the authority in the aftermath of an audit conducted by K Christie & Co.
The audit revealed that hundreds of thousands of dollars were issued during the last administration without any real identifiable need.
The government decided to terminate all current contracts in a legal manner but assured that every contractor who has a valid, legal contract will be paid.
“It was not a process that was set up to set people up. It’s not a sleight of hand,” Bonaby said.
“What we are doing is trying to do things that ought to have been done from inception. The process has been moving smoothly, persons are happy with the process.
“We have approximately 1,500 contractors so we have at least by now verified 450 or so contractors to date and the process is continuing.”
He continued: “The hold up has been the tax certificate compliance (TCC) and so we find that once that part of it is completed I believe that the numbers will pick up.
“But we are there to help the Bahamian contractors. We want to make sure they get paid as long as they can verify what needs to be verified.”
Among the observations outlined in audit were inconsistencies in the signature of the corporation’s former Executive Chairman Shanendon Cartwright; there were some contracts signed and dated ahead of the vendor/witness signature, and there were some missing contracts that have already been paid out.
Additionally, more than 90 percent of those contractors were not required to produce know-your-customer (KYC) identification to be placed on file.
For their contracts to be honored, every vendor will have to provide the basic KYC documentation for the maintenance of proper internal records, including IDs and bank details, and be tax and NIB compliant.
The report concluded that the Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority requested and received consistent supplemental funding beyond its annual budget in the last three fiscal years.
The authority ran over budget in its award of contracts by $6.8 million between July 2019 and June 2020, and by $13.7 million between July 2020 and June 2021.
The authority was paying out some $2.7 million monthly to 12,000 to 14,000 vendors.
Yesterday, Bonaby said that his team is also working expeditiously to get new contracts out to tender so the work can be continued.
“As I drive around the street, I can see that the transition process is what’s being reflected on what we see on the street sides,” he said
“Myself and my team will be working throughout the weekend to get that done. I don’t want it to be a situation where persons are always having to come directly to me for a contract.
“In short order, we will be trying to set up a help desk where persons will be able to come in and seek person certain things from the authority. It wouldn’t be process heavy but at least there will be a process.”
He added that the board is handling the matter very meticulously.
“This is not something we are going to do with a knee-jerk reaction. So time is on our side and we will be reporting to the Bahamian people in short order.”
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