Opposition Leader Michael Pintard yesterday called on Prime Minister Philip Davis to provide evidence that the Tenders Committee reviewed and approved a contract for the construction of the lunch pavilion at R. M. Bailey Senior High School, which became the subject of controversy in recent days after its roof collapsed.

The opposition leader is also asking the government to make known how many "oral contracts" exist for public works underway.

The prime minister and minister of works have both characterized the R. M. Bailey incident as trusses falling, but have denied there was any collapse of the roof - though that wording originated in a press statement issued by the Ministry of Works.

Taking exception to Davis' claim on Sunday that the project contractor - Anthony Roker of A&M Construction - had an oral contract with the ministry and was "self insured", Pintard said the opposition was astounded by statements made by Davis and Sears on the matter.

"The [Tenders] Committee and [Tenders] Board would not give consideration to an oral contract proposal, nor would they approve a waiver of the requirement for proper insurance coverage. By law, no procurement contract can be awarded unless the process prescribed by law is followed - anything else is an illegal contract," said Pintard, who questioned the accuracy of the claim about the project being self insured.

"He (Davis) knows well from the BAMSI debacle that the standing government policy is that all public projects of this type require express insurance coverage. The contractor has no option to 'take on the risk'.

"Unless the prime minister can provide evidence that the contractor has established a separate legal entity appropriately funded to provide insurance for the contractor's business interests, then no self insurance exists."

Pintard's statement raised a matter that was significantly controversial for Davis when he was minister of works under the last Christie administration.

In February 2015, Davis revealed in Parliament that the male dormitory at the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) that was severely damaged by fire a month earlier was not insured at the time of the blaze. He had previously claimed that contractor had all risk insurance.

Regarding the R. M. Bailey lunch pavilion, Pintard yesterday asked how many other contracts are currently in place "with nothing more than a handshake and a wink".

The opposition is demanding that the government "provide a full accounting of all projects for which there are only oral contracts in place and for which there is no appropriate insurance coverage".

Though he provided no evidence to support his statement, Pintard said, "It is my understanding that a senior member of the engineering team did not support the construction of the truss with the size of the lumber used, neither did the technical team support the construction of the pavilion in that particular area of the campus for reasons that included the safety and security of the student population."

He said, "If this is the case, who overrode the prudent advice of the public officers at the ministry?"

Pintard said the country cannot have a government that believes it can do as it pleases despite what the law mandates with respect to procurement.

He said if there are ministers caught in these situations then they "must resign".

The government has not stated what the value of the "oral" contract is that the prime minister said it has with the contractor in question for the R. M. Bailey project.

The Procurement Act requires that each procuring entity establish a Tender Committee to evaluate and recommend the award of all procurement contracts whose value is more than $25,000.

A Tenders Committee is required to make recommendations to the Tenders Board with respect to the award of procurement contracts where the value of the proposed procurement contract exceeds $400,000.

In a recent statement on the matter of the R. M. Bailey lunch pavilion, the Ministry of Works said there is nothing unusual about the government entering into that kind of work without any written contract.

It stated, "... Contractors, once identified, recommended or assigned particularly during summer repairs to undertake work, which is usually urgent, are usually provided with drawings for familiarization, preliminary pricing and even self-mobilization, given the narrow window to get things done for school opening.

"It is challenging sometimes to keep up with the paperwork, given the process and the narrow window to get things done. The sheer number of contracts to be executed in this short timeframe is astounding, ranging somewhere between 200 as a low to as high as 300."

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works Luther Smith said the project started in July and was not due for completion for several months.

As the contract had the scope of works and technical drawings, Smith said the contractor had permission to start.

He confirmed the contractor has not received any mobilization for the work.

Smith, who was only contacted on the matter last night, said he did not know off hand the value of the contract, but has committed to making it available today.

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