New Procurement Procedures for Airport

Details

Latest

Wednesday, 13 February 2013 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St. John's - Following reports of a senior Airport Authority official allegedly unlawfully using his job title and the authority’s funds and channels to secure materials for his private company in the same industry, CEO Stanley Smith said the authority will revise its service acquisition procedures and how employees are allowed to participate in such transactions.

Smith said before he took office, the airport had employed a system of soliciting a bid from a lone service provider – a practice that allowed for less transparency.

“When I actually came, the system of getting quotations on jobs and services was not in keeping with what I was accustomed to,” Smith said. “Service providers were not chosen from a list of bids, but appeared to be hand-picked.”

Some of the changes implemented mean that if someone is actively employed with the ABAA and has a business in the industry, they are no longer allowed to do business with the airport, since this constitutes a clear conflict of interest.

In “extreme” instances however, where such an arrangement cannot be avoided, Smith said new procedures mandate that a declaration be made to the Authority of the individual’s interests, but the same tendering process would still be applicable.

“They are not supposed to do business with the airport because it is a clear conflict, except in extreme circumstances where you can’t find another supplier,” the CEO said. “But even then, it would still go through the same tender process and certainly that would need to be highlighted, and the person would have to declare their hand in the business.”

Smith noted that the Authority’s finance and procurement department has been compliant with the procedures, and all systems appear to be advancing smoothly.

As for the senior official who seemingly used the old system to his advantage, Smith shied away from commenting directly.

The CEO had reportedly raised the matter during his first days in office, and cautioned senior officials that the practice would not be allowed to continue unchecked.

Reports in December indicated that the culprit was given an ultimatum to either repay company costs incurred during his infractions, or resign.

CEO Smith said, “Before I came there was a practice where there was maybe a single quote per job, but now what we look at is at least two or three and select the most appropriate.”

• < Prev
• Next >