The Central Tenders Committee and the Ministry of Education defended the recent tendering process for architectural and engineering services for the construction of three new high schools.
The CTC recently awarded the contract to the Chicago-based firm O’Donnell, Wickland, Picozzi, who will work in conjunction with the local architects firm OA&D.
As reported in the Cayman Observer last week, Complaints Commissioner John Epp confirmed Thursday that his office had begun investigating a written complaint from a local company dealing with the tendering process for the schools project.
Of the complaints about the awarding of the contract outlined in the Cayman Observer report, Mr. Epp said only the one dealing with procedural aspects of the tendering process were in the remit of the Office of the Complaints Commissioner. The other issues raised in the article would be for the Auditor General’s office to look into, if it decided to do so, Mr. Epp said.
Will Steward, managing director of the local firm Chalmers Gibbs Architects said his firm had complained about the procedural process after having had its bid – which was teamed with the international architecture firm Perkins & Will – disqualified for being 20 minutes late.
‘Our only complaint was that we spent weeks putting this (bid) together only to have it disqualified on a miniscule point of procedure,’ he said. ‘It seems unfair.’
Mr. Steward said the bid was opened and then stamped by the receptionist at the CTC, who called someone to make sure it could still be accepted even though it was late.
It was only a week later that the bid was returned to Chalmers Gibbs and Mr. Steward learned it had been disqualified for being late.
‘If it was disqualified, it shouldn’t have been accepted in the first place,’ he said.
CTC Chairman Terrence Outar said the bid was never accepted.
‘The receptionist has to open the bid packages to stamp them received,’ he said. ‘She’s only the receiving person, no the accepting body. Only the Committee can accept a bid. She’s like the post office for the CTC.’
Mr. Outar said the CTC had no choice but to disqualify the bid.
‘It says right in the Invitation to Tender that late bids would not be accepted,’ he said. ‘A rule is a rule. It applies to everyone. How would it be fair to other bidders if we accepted late bids?’
The awarding of the contract also drew criticism from the Cayman Society of Architects and Engineers
Burns Conolly, chairman of CASE, said in a written statement on the matter that his industry was always concerned when large contracts for consulting fees go overseas as these companies do not contribute to the local economy.
‘We believe that Government should not advertise for consultants overseas when there are many firms locally that have the qualification to execute the works,’ he stated. ‘Should a local firm want to joint venture with an overseas firm due to staff resources, specialized expertise, etcetera, then that is understandable. But to have fee proposals written and geared to overseas firms is clearly not in best interest of our industry.’
Mr. Conolly elaborated more on the subject on Thursday.
‘I’m not saying any company on this island could have done this work,’ he said, adding that the bid should have nonetheless been open to local companies without the requirement of overseas collaboration.
Minister of Education Alden McLaughlin said he discussed the matter with the project team before creating the Invitation to Tender.
‘We talked about the expertise available on the island, and we all decided there just isn’t that expertise here,’ he said.
Mr. McLaughlin explained that the new schools were advanced-design ‘schools of the future’, which only a handful of companies in the world had experience in building.
‘This isn’t four-walls and a square building kind of stuff,’ he said. ‘It’s highly specialised.
‘I am absolutely convinced that in order to get the results I want and the country needs out of these schools, we have to get outside help.’
At the same time, however, Mr. McLaughlin said he was adamant that there had to be Caymanian companies involved.
‘I wanted to see significant Caymanian involvement, not just to give our people work, but because these companies know Cayman and I want the schools to reflect Cayman and Caymanian heritage.’
Mr. McLaughlin said the time to complain about the Tender parameters was not after the contract was awarded.
‘If people had something to say about the process, they should have said it before the bids were in,’ he said.
Mr. Conolly said he was not raising the issue on behalf of his company.
‘We put in a bid and we didn’t get (the contract). That’s fine,’ he said.
‘But I’m the chairman of CASE and it is one of my duties to highlight these kinds of situations so that they can be corrected in the future,’ he said.
Senior Project Manager Alan Cook said the project management team had several meetings with the CTC prior to creating the Invitation to Tender.
‘We wanted to make sure we were doing everything right,’ he said.
Mr. Cook said the requirements for the design of the school take into consideration the philosophies of Professor Stephen Heppell, a world expert in the design of the schools of the future.
‘These schools are going to change the island for years and years to come,’ he said. ‘We’d better make sure we’re doing it right.’
Mr. Cook said the project management team tried its best to ensure the necessary expertise would be working on the project, while at the same time there would be capable local participation.
‘We were very careful of what we did and how we did it,’ he said. ‘I’m very proud of what we did and I think we ended up with a good team’
On Friday, the Ministry of Education issued a media statement about the schools tender.
The statement identified various inaccuracies contained in the Cayman Observer report, namely that the contract was awarded for the construction of the schools and that it was valued at ‘tens of millions of dollars’.
The Ministry stated that the contract was only for architectural and engineering services and that its value was less than $6 million.
Mr. Steward from Chalmers Gibbs agreed that the team selected seemed very qualified.
‘Apparently, they’re an excellent firm,’ he said of O’Donnell, Wickland, Picozzi. ‘I’ve very happy for (OA&D’s Danny Owen) that he’s getting the job.
‘I think its going to work out well.’
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