The Director General of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service who doubles as Chairman of the Procurement Committee, Joseph Lamboi, has ordered the cancellation of a portion of the contract to supply rice to the Sierra Leone Correctional Service (Officers and Inmates). Mr. Lamboi’s decision to cancel the contract for the supply of rice to Officers of the Correctional Service has been roundly condemned at a Procurement Committee meeting held on 12th November, 2021.
The Senior Accountant at the Sierra Leone Correctional Service had conceded during that meeting that contrary to the claim made by the Director General that the contractor had capacity challenge, no such challenge actually existed. The contractor is only concerned about the price the Sierra Leone Correctional Service is offering him for a bag of 50KG rice which is Le365,000 for the OAU brand of rice.
The supplier, Mishael Kay Construction and Supplies (SL) Limited is willing to supply the backlog if the price approved for the new supplier is paid to his company, according to reports.
The Senior Procurement Officer had advised that the Director General should not embark on sole-sourcing but should go back to the list of bidders that participated in the 2020/2021 bidding process and choose the second most responsive bidder to supply the remaining months of rice to the Officers.
The decision by the Director General to single-handedly choose a successor supplier to replace Mishael Kay Construction and supplies (SL) Limited for the supply of rice to Officers has been condemned by some senior Officers in the Sierra Leone Correctional Service top management team.
Meanwhile, the Sierra Leone Correctional Service has been reluctant or has delayed to pay Mishael Kay Construction and Supplies for rice supplied to Officers and Inmates for several months now, running into Billions of Leones.
The contract for the supply of rice to Officers of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service is to be awarded to a Lebanese-owned company at Le415,000 per 50kg bag for the same brand of OAU rice which has led to a big split in the top management of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service.
All efforts to contract the Public Relations Department of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service proved unsuccessful last night.
Reliable sources have informed the Global Times that the final decision to terminate such contracts must be taken by NPPA.
Investigations continue.
