TCI News
Turks and Caicos Islands Government’s Capital Projects – Public Procurement Procedure
#Providenciales, October 24, 2018 – Turks and Caicos – The procurement process for capital projects of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government is managed by the Turks and Caicos Islands Procurement Board as per 
the requirements of the Public Procurement Ordinance of 2014 (PPO).
The Procurement Board is established according to the provisions of the Public Procurement Ordinance [PPO 23] and consist of:
“(a) a Chairperson, appointed by the Governor in Council to hold office at the pleasure of the Governor;
(b) six officers drawn from across government appointed by the Deputy Governor to hold office at the pleasure of the Deputy Governor;
(c) the Permanent Secretary, Finance; and
(d) the Director of Contracts.
(4) The Auditor General and Chief Internal Auditor (or their nominees) shall be invited to attend meetings of the Board.
(10) An appointed member of the Board may not remain a member of the Board for no more than six years.”
The members of the Procurement Board are as follows:
- Chairperson of the Board / Director, Office of the Governor: Mr. James Astwood
- Director of Planning: Mr. Dainer Lightbourne
- Project Economist: Ms. Salace Richardson
- Financial Manager: Mrs. Kimberley Simmons-Lewis
- Director, Office of the Deputy Governor: Mr. Tito Lightbourne
- Attorney General’s Chambers Representative: Mrs. Khalila Astwood-Tatem
- Attorney General’s Chambers Second Representative: Ms. Yaa McCartney or Mrs. Motheba Linton
- Permanent Secretary, Finance
- Director of Contracts
PPO 24 (1) states:
“The functions of the Procurement Board are to:
(a) award contracts;
(b) approve invitation to tender documents;
(c) approve procurement procedures;
(d) approve the choice of a procurement procedure;
(e) approve solicitation documents before issue;
(f) approve the findings of evaluation panels;
(g) endorse decisions of departmental tender boards; and
(h) approve contract documentation and any amendment to an awarded contract.”
It is the responsibility of the Director of Contracts and the Chairperson of the Procurement Board to “ensure that in carrying out its functions the Procurement Board follows the procedures prescribed” by the PPO [PPO 24 (3)].
In addition, there are several steps involved in the processing of tenders. For ease of reference and public awareness, see the itemized steps listed below from submission of tenders to contract award notification:
- Tenders are publicly opened immediately following the closing of an Invitation to Tender at the scheduled meeting of the Procurement Board [PPO 23 (13); PPO 41 (2)].
- All members of the Procurement Board are required to declare if there are any Conflicts of Interest (perceived or actual) with any of the Invitations to Tender which are scheduled to be opened. If a conflict of interest is identified, then the member willbe recused.
- Following the tender opening, all tenders are handed over to the Chairperson of the Evaluation Panel, as established bythe PPO [PPO 45].
- Evaluation Panels are formed according to the general composition as outlined inthe PPO [PPO 45]:
“an evaluation panel in respect of a capital project or a public/private partnership project must consist of:
(a) the Director of Contracts or a person appointed by the Director, who shall preside at meetings of the panel;
(b) the Permanent Secretary for the department that has responsibility for the project;
(c) a representative from the Ministry of Finance appointed by the Permanent Secretary, Finance; and
(d) not less than two other member appointed by the Board.”
- The inclusion of additional members “appointed by the Board” is dependent on the nature of the project. The basis for the selection of persons across government is to ensure that there is an appropriate balance of technical and other pertinent skills relevant to the project included on the Evaluation Panel.
- All members of the evaluation panel are required to declare if there are any Conflicts of Interest (perceived or actual) with any of the Tenderers who submitted tenders for the project. If a conflict of interest is identified, then the member willbe recused and a replacement will be sought for inclusion on the panel.
- Each tender is evaluated based on the criteria which was included in the published Invitation to Tender. No changes can be made to the Evaluation Criteria once the Invitation to Tender is closed [PPO 45 (4)]. The general sequencefor the evaluation is as follows:
- Completed and signed Certificate of Non-Collusion: “An evaluation panel must not consider a tender unless it includes a completed Certificate of Non-Collusion signed by or on behalf of the tenderer” [PPO 49 (1)]. If the certificate of non-collusion is not submitted or is not completed and/or signed, the tender is not considered any further.
- Meeting Pre-Qualification Criteria: a tender must satisfy all the pre-qualification requirements to move to the next stage.
- Achieving the minimum technical or quality score based on the weightings and minimum score required as stated in the published Invitation to Tender. The minimum score required must be achieved so that the tender can move to the next stage i.e. the price evaluation stage.
- Evaluation of Price
- Each member of the Evaluation Panel will score a tender and those scores are moderated with a moderated final score being submitted to the Chairperson of the Evaluation Panel.
- The Chairperson of the Evaluation Panel prepares an Evaluation Report and circulates to all members of the Evaluation Panel for review and agreement. If necessary, the evaluation report is amended based on any
feedback received from members of the Evaluation Panel and recirculated to the panel.
- The final Evaluation Report, inclusive of a summary of the review and the recommendation of the Evaluation Panel, is submitted to the Procurement Board for agreement that the process was followed according to the provisions of the PPO.
- The Secretary to the Procurement Board then prepares a Contract Award Notification, which is submitted to the Deputy Governor for onward submission to the Cabinet.
- The Cabinet considers the Contract Award Notification submitted. The purpose of the Contract Award Notification is to inform the Cabinet of the process followed according to the provisions of the PPO. It includes a summary of the evaluation exercise and the recommendation by the Procurement Board.
- The Cabinet Secretariat returns an Action Point, advising of the Cabinet’s decision in reference to the Contract Award Notification.
Release: TCIG
Wilkie Arthur
Freelance Court Correspondent
#TurksandCaicos, April 25, 2024 – He was busted at the Howard Hamilton Providenciales International Airport on Friday, April 16, 2024.
He allegedly had in his luggage four (4) rounds of 6.5mm ammunition on his departure to his homeland in Oklahoma in the United States of America (USA).
Ryan Watson and his wife were arrested and placed into police lock up. Both were later granted police bail, and upon return to police station the Monday after the couple’s arrest, the husband alone was charged by detective Police Constable Kimberlee Markland for
unlawful possession of the four rounds of ammunition.
Watson was escorted to court on Tuesday, April 23rd, placed before the learned Chief Magistrate Mr. Jolyon Hatmin and remanded to His Majesty’s Prison until his sufficiency hearing on June 7, this (2024) year.
His counsel, Mr. Oliver Smith KC and his junior assistant Mrs. Kimone Tennant immediately sought bail for him in the Supreme Court which was heard the following day (Wednesday April 24) before her Ladyship Ms. Tanya Lobban-Jackson and was granted bail, without hassle in the amount or $15,000.00 cash or surety.
The Crown, in the person of senior public prosecutor Ms. Tassja Mitchell did not oppose bail.
Magnetic Media can report that once again on the afternoon of the Tuesday April 24th, after the accused RYAN TYLER WATSON, 41 was remanded by the Magistrate’s court, the U.S. Embassy issued an warning to it’s citizens and travelers to carefully check their bags when traveling to Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) as TCI authorities are strictly enforcing firearm and ammunition laws and if found you could go to prison for 12 years.
A real question of great concern and public importance is: should the TCI courts sentence tourists to the full mandatory minimum of 12 years imprisonment for simple possession firearm and/or ammunition.
The succinct answer is: Yes!
The Court of Appeal, just last month said in its written judgment that “ALL PERSONS,” including tourist/visitors must go to prison if found guilty or pleas guilty to firearm and ammunition offences.
However, there remains the concern about how much time in prison a judge should give a visitor regardless of the existence of exceptional circumstances.
Should the judge imprison a visitor to the territory, who may have been wrongly informed, for example, the full mandatory minimum term or must a reduced prison term be imposed.
If TCI judges start to give less than the mandatory minimum to tourists/visitors, it is being strong and widely advocated by senior defense attorneys that the same must apply to local or residents of these Islands, who may also present exceptional circumstances.
Arguments about the equity in delivery of justice is what drove the question to the Court of Appeal late in 2023. The decision came this past February.
‘We cannot find ourselves sentencing tourists regardless of exceptional circumstances to lesser sentences, and when those same exceptional circumstances are found in local cases, it’s being ignored by our judges.’
Human Rights Attorney, Sheena Mair has on more than one occasion argued this point; including in firearm and ammunition bail applications. She would put the very same judges and prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution on the spot by reminding the judges and the prosecutors that precedent has been set.
‘You’ve just granted bail to a tourist for firearm and ammunition but now here’s a local person, same charge but because he’s a local he can’t get bail? He has to be remanded pending a trial that could take years before it’s heard?’
Mair has valiantly outlined the wrong in this and clearly stated this practice is “not fair” and it’s “not proper administration of justice in the Turks and Caicos Islands.”
Ms. Mair further complained that tourists would plea guilty to possession of firearm and ammunition and be released on bail pending sentencing but as for a local, he or she has to wait on remand at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation pending sentencing.
The attorney criticizes the optics of such decisions and is on record reminding the Judge that the Court of Appeal has already set out that the law applies to everyone; visitors and locals alike.
A police statement issued Wednesday April 24 informs: “Today (April 24th), Mr. Watson appeared in the Supreme Court and, following a bail application, was granted $15,000 bail with the following conditions:
1) Not travel out of TCI without the court’s permission.
2) Surrender his passport and all other travel documents to the court
3) Report to Grace Bay Police Station on Tuesdays and Thursdays between the hours of 8 am-4 pm,
4) Reside at the given address in Providenciales; any address change will be provided before the court.”
The American from Oklahoma whose story is trending in the US and has been carried by leading news networks was joined by a host of loved ones at the Courthouse.
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