An attempt by NHA Chair Dr Rodgers and Executive Director Nieng’s attempt to clarify the controversial awarding of the more than $6 million Toilet Paper contract only exposes the dubious dealings within the institution overseeing the hosting of the 17th Pacific Games
AN attempt by the Sol2023 Pacific Games National Hosting Authourity (NHA) to defend the awarding of a more than SBD$6 million Toilet Paper (TP) contract to the Empire barbershop only highlighted the non-adherence to set procurement procedures by the NHA procurement compliance officials.
The NHA Chair Dr Jimmie Rodgers and NHA Executive Director Christian Nieng convened a Press Conference last Friday to clarify the issue which the former jokingly referred to as ‘the juicy subject’ after it hit the headlines in the local print media.
In his remarks, an adamant Mr Nieng said because of the good control mechanisms within NHA, NHA has been delivering on the games preparation in compliance with the requirements of the host agreement between the Pacific Games Council and the National Olympic Committee of Solomon Islands and Solomon Islands Government.
“I think it is very important that I make it clear to the public that regardless of the all sorts of complaints that come, I can smile and I can say we will continue to do our job until we deliver and NHA closes,” he added.
Dr Rodgers in turn said as NHA was established by an Act of Parliament, it is required to have in place regulations, especially in terms of procurement
“For procurement, it is the government system of CTB and the MTB that we aligned to NHA. So we have what we call a GTB – a Games Tender Board – which is equivalent to Central Tender Board and an internal tender board which is equivalent to the Ministerial Tender Board. There are levels of delegated authorities for the two tender boards.
Dr Rodgers said for the previous 16 Pacific Games, the respective Games Organising Commitees (GOCs) were the law and operated as private business entities.
“And that’s how the Pacific Games Charter actually states: that GOC is like a private company that is established to deliver the games,” he added.
He said it is different with the 17th Pacific Games to be hosted by Solomon Islands as Solomon Islands Government puts money into GOC for its operation.
“The GOC [here] does everything and at the end, they do an audit and a report goes to the government but the government is not involved. We have a law that actually prescribes how GOC should be incorporated. It is not a legal entity of its own because it is a committee of the NHA.”
He said this is frustrating from an expenditure perspective, especially when they want to run things very quickly but the law has set mechanisms that they must comply with.
“Sometimes we lose orders because we are slow. So when we are slow, the suppliers say they are tired of waiting.
“So that has been a constant challenge for Christian Nieng who manages this whole thing on a daily basis and me.”
However, Dr Rodgers added that the country’s laws also allow for the granting of exemptions.
“So there are exemptions there. When there is justification for us to exempt the speed of procuring something, we can do so.
“The process of auditing itself is not exempted. The audit will still look at the process we followed. But there are ways that we can speed up the process.”
Turning to the ‘juicy subject’ of the Toilet Paper contract worth more than $6 million, Dr Rodgers said he was glad that on the previous Sunday before the issue hit the media, the NHA Compliance already picked up the issue.
“Our compliance picked up that there was something not right with the toilet papers. So they have already started the internal look to see where the issue came up – why is it $6.195 million?
“The point 4 comes from somewhere but the actual amount is still more than 6 million. It’s $6.195 million. So it’s still more than 6 million. How we got this figure? Why is it that expensive?”
Dr Rodgers said there were ‘three things’ to the award and that in everything that they do, the figure they start off with is not exactly the correct one as it would be subject to change.
“So the huge figure was initially what was given for the number of toilet paper rolls. The number of big rolls that hung on the side and the number of hand towels. And when you have the big rolls, you will need the dispenser.
“So, the original estimates for that were some high numbers. Those numbers went out first before we fine-tuned them. Based on the initial numbers that went out, the company sent in its quote and they were not the only ones who sent in their quotes. We had the Pacific Suppliers. We had Ausmart, Bulkshop and Premier.
“They also put in their bids based on those original numbers and then of course the quality. They don’t all come with the same quality of toilet paper. So the pricing depends on the type of papers they were to supply.”
“We have the compliance but this one was very urgent because it was taken from outside. So as I said, we have a process that we can fast track a decision.
“But the award letter always has one requirement. The award letter says up to the ceiling but renegotiate the price down.
“So that is the revised budget that we are talking to the supplier on,” he said.
However, Dr Rodgers said he was not privy to tell the media what the revised budget was because they were still talking to the supplier and the information was still confidential.
“But I can only tell you that the revised figures are the right amounts.
“In our view, we’ll bring that [revised] budget down by more than 50 percent and so this is an important thing that I want to stress. It is the first award that was given. It was to make sure we secure a supplier because their supplies come from overseas and they got to secure a ship.”
When questioned why the award was given to a barbershop when they were other big companies that also bided to provide toilet rolls like the Pacific Supplies, Ausmart and Bulkshop, Dr Rodgers said he did not know it was a haircutting shop.
“What I looked at was the product they put in and the comparison of the prices for that product.
“The barbershop, I was completely unaware it is a haircutting shop. I don’t know if Christian is aware of the barbershop. That was not something that was put into the Technical Evaluation Report because all the assessments have Technical Evaluation Reports.”
But Mr Nieng swiftly added that on the part of NHA Compliance, they actually picked up the issues and have raised them with the Chair [Dr Rogers] and the Chair actually listened to the advice of the Compliance Team and hence the reason why they were still in the process of completing the compliance process.
“As I have said compliance is still doing its job. So, every issues raised here, Compliance has picked them up and reported to the Chair and we’ll finalise the discussions.”
When further asked why the contract was given to the barbershop, an unregistered company, Dr Rodgers said basically the NHA Compliance would have checked this.
“So I guess for me, it is not a defense, it is not an excuse but if we have people who are supposed to check those before it gets to my level, I took it that they had done all that. So it passed them, it came in then that’s done.
“If the company is indeed not registered, then basically we’ll have to pull the plugs because we go with companies that are registered even with the securities, even with the caterers. That is the requirement that we follow.
“So if that is the case, of course that’s something that was missed by our process. Our process actually caters for that. So if that was missed by the process, we’ll have to look into that. So right now, we are sort of negotiating with the company.
“But if the company is not legally registered then that is a point that we have to take into consideration.”
However, Mr Nieng, swiftly added that, “On the part of the Compliance, we actually picked up the issues and have raised them with the Chair to deal with appropriately and the Chair actually listened to the advice of the Compliance and that is why we are still in the process of concluding the process.
“So, I would say that we are dealing with the issues internally and whatever new information that we will release that will be after we report to the Chair.”
By FLOYD TERRY & IAN LADDS
Solomon Star, Honiara
