The Cayman Islands Auditor
General’s office confirmed Friday it is looking into the entire government
bidding process after concerns were raised about two major public procurements.
Officials with the auditor’s office
said Wednesday they were looking into the bidding process involved in selecting
a security firm to install new closed-circuit television public safety
monitoring cameras.
“The auditor general has commenced
an audit of the bidding process (for CCTV),” said Audit Manager Martin Ruben.
But the review won’t stop there.
“As a result of a request by the
governor, a discussion with the premier, and audit work I have recently
commenced on the National Closed Circuit Television tendering process, I have
decided to conduct a wider scope audit of the government’s procurement process
at this time,” said Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick.
“There have been concerns raised
that the current procurement process followed by the Cayman Islands Government
does not obtain results that ensure the best value for money,” said Mr. Swarbrick, “Therefore, the audit will focus on this aspect
and other areas of the procurement process.”
The audit will commence immediately
and is planned to be reported to the Legislative Assembly in early 2011.
Questions had been raised privately
about bidding for the CCTV contract, and the bid selection was delayed for
about a month and a half. The government’s Portfolio of Internal and External
Affairs has declined to answer Caymanian Compass questions about those issues
on a number of occasions.
Last week, a controversy erupted
over the bids for the financing of US$185 million for the Cayman Islands
government when officials revealed that process was essentially ignored by
ruling party lawmakers.
Premier McKeeva Bush said he did
not choose to go with the bids recommended by the Central Tenders Committee for
the financing because they would have cost the country more money.
In the end, Cabinet chose a New
York-based firm, Cohen and Company, over a joint bid by two locally operating
banks.
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