OT 266: Email to the Committee from Simon L. Bradfield: Turks and Caicos Islands

 

 

With reference to the announcement today on BBC Radio 4 regarding your investigation into bad practices in the Turks and Caicos Islands, perhaps my experiences there may be of interest to you.

 

In October 2004 I was appointed by a British consultant as Principal Advisor to undertake a DFID funded project to advise on the reorganisation of the Public Works Department of the Ministry of Communications, Works and Utilities on Grand Turk Island. The project involved an initial 5 month full-time input during which time I undertook in depth analyses of existing working practices of the PWD, the formulation of detailed proposals for the reorganisation of the PWD and detailed methods for the operation for the Department. This was followed by a one month input in Jan/Feb 2006 to check on the progress of the reorganisation and the implementation of the revised methods of operation.

 

During my time there I worked very closely with the PWD staff in the restructuring processes and in the preparation of new procedure manuals for the Department. In addition, I presented submissions to sessions of ExCo, and to various Ministers and Government Departments on the urgent need for the reorganisation and better accountability of the PWD in its implementation of public works on the islands.

 

Throughout my work I received minimal cooperation from the various Department Heads, and PWD staff were, largely, unwilling to divulge or discuss detailed information on their current practices of implementing Public Works projects. Project information and records were haphazard, incomplete and/or lacking and I found it impossible conduct any adequate audit of project histories or expenditure. My overall impression during my time there was that the reorganisation project had been imposed on the Department by DFID and that they had no interest in our objectives - considering us to be merely and interference with their existing methods of working.

 

Sadly, DFID funding was curtailed at the end of my 5 month full time input, and upon my return to the Islands at the beginning of 2006 to check on progress of the implementation of the reorganisation proposals (this visit funded locally by the TCI Govt.), nothing whatsoever had been achieved, and as far as I know all the reports and recommendations are now merely gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.  

 

As an example of what I found I attach notes of a meeting that I had on 31 January 2006 with the PWD Principle Quantity Surveyor who, being worried that he had been requested by the Minister to certify tenders for the South Caicos Airport expansion, divulged to me for the first time details of the sort of practices prevalent in the Department's tendering methods. 

 

It seems a great pity that the large expenditure made by DFID on this project has produced practically no results or improvements.

 

 

6 July 2008