In limbo

A Supreme Court case has temporarily frozen the award of a government contract for the lease of medical diagnostic equipment, exposing apparent failings in Jamaica’s procurement oversight system.

The dispute involves local company Erin Radiology Limited and the Ministry of Health and Wellness over a seven-year lease for 16 diagnostic machines – 10 CT scanners and six MRI units – intended for key public hospitals, including Kingston Public, Victoria Jubilee, Cornwall Regional, Mandeville Regional, Bustamante for Children, and May Pen.

CT and MRI machines are vital tools for detecting and managing critical illnesses, with CT scans described in tender documents as “the preferred method of diagnosing many cancers” and MRIs as “highly effective” in distinguishing diseased from healthy tissues. The contract value has not been disclosed.

Erin claims it was unfairly excluded from the bidding process due to technical problems with the Government of Jamaica Electronic Procurement (GOJEP) portal. The company alleges that despite meeting all requirements, its bid upload failed due to a system error, and it was then denied an opportunity to submit a physical copy.

The company filed an application on August 19 seeking judicial review of the ministry’s conduct and an injunction to halt further steps in the procurement. A hearing was held on October 8. The ministry reportedly agreed to suspend internal deliberations until the next hearing, scheduled for November 5.

The legal challenge has stalled what sources say was a contract close to being finalised.

Central to Erin’s case is the claim that it has no other avenue for redress because the Procurement Review Board – the statutory body empowered to hear procurement appeals – has not been constituted.

Director Walter James stated in an affidavit that the company began uploading its bid at 11:22 a.m. on April 30, hours before the 3 p.m. deadline. After spending $6.8 million preparing its proposal, the upload failed at 16 per cent, allegedly due to a file size error, despite the document being within the portal’s 99MB limit.

James said the company repeatedly called the Public Procurement Commission and the Ministry of Finance between 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. seeking technical support but got no response until a staff member finally answered and said it was too close to the deadline to assist.

Physical copy rejected

He said a physical copy was delivered to the ministry’s procurement office before the deadline but was rejected.

The businessman argues that Erin was denied “fair and equitable treatment”.

According to James, the company wrote to the health ministry’s permanent secretary, Errol Greene, on May 16 requesting reconsideration. While the ministry acknowledged receipt, it reportedly failed to respond to the substance of the complaint.

Erin’s efforts to escalate the matter were stymied when it was informed that the Procurement Review Board (PRB) was not in place. In a June 12 response to an email he sent, a senior official at the finance ministry confirmed the board was “not currently constituted” and being reconstituted.

Under Section 51 of the Public Procurement Act, aggrieved bidders can apply to the board to challenge procurement decisions. The board can prohibit, revise, or overturn decisions, or order compensation. Erin argues that the board’s absence deprives it of a legal right and undermines the fairness of the entire system.

Erin argued in court filings that the absence of the board denies bidders their statutory right of appeal and is “fundamentally unfair”, leaving the company “abandoned by both the procuring entity and the Government of Jamaica”.

Despite the finance ministry’s statement, a Cabinet Office report dated August 5 lists seven individuals as board members, raising questions about the board’s actual status. The finance ministry directed questions through the Access to Information Act, which allows 60 days to respond.

When contacted by The Sunday Gleaner, the health ministry declined to comment, citing the ongoing court case.

In prior filings, Georgia Houston Reid, senior director of procurement in the health ministry, said other bidders uploaded their proposals “without technical issues” and that Erin’s bid could not be accepted offline. She noted Erin’s application for reconsideration was not submitted during the required “standstill period” and, therefore, did not require a response.

Houston Reid also argued Erin’s planned appeal to the review board was without merit.

This is not Erin’s first reported issue with the GOJEP system. The company cited a failed upload for a similar contract in July 2024 but said it later won another tender.

Erin’s attorney Caroline Hay is from the firm HayMcDowell. The ministry is being represented by the Attorney General’s Chambers.

editorial@gleanerjm.com