Lee: Procurement regulator should review new ferry contract

Opposition Chief Whip David Lee has suggested that the first task for the new procurement regulator should be a review of the contract for the new ferry. At the post-Cabinet news conference this week, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced that several rigorous checks were done to ensure that the new US$17.4 million catamaran Galleon’s Passage meets all the requirements to operate on the domestic seabridge.

Lee, speaking yesterday in a telephone interview, pointed out that outgoing President Anthony Carmona had recently sworn in a Procurement Board and the Procurement Regulator. He said the first job of the Procurement Regulator could be to review the purchase contract for the new ferry. Lee reported reading in the media that the board had no office allocated nor attendant staff. “I hope it is not another setback,” he said. Lee hoped those issues would be resolved quickly so the board might be effective in bringing transparency and integrity to the procurement process of different State agencies.