The Parliamentary Service Board (PSB) has described claims of unfair award of contract to Adjaye and Associates by the Design Associates and Development Consortium, as most unfortunate.
The Board indicated that all the procurement processes were followed and the necessary consultations were done, to award the contract.
In a press statement signed by the Secretary to the Parliamentary Service Board, Mr. Matthew Abrefa Tawiah, Parliament wrote to and sought concurrent approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) for restrictive tendering among three shortlisted architectural design firms for the proposed new Parliamentary Chamber Complex.
He indicated that Parliament’s purpose for referring the design competition to the Architects Registration Council (ARC) was to subject the selection process to full professional scrutiny.
Mr. Abrefa Tawiah added that Design Associates and Development Consortium were invited to participate just as Sir David Adjaye and Associates. He reiterated that a third shortlisted firm, Great Wall Industry Corporation of China, was disqualified on technical grounds.He further explained that the Architects Registration Council (ARC) empanelled a team of ten independent assessors drawn from the Ghana Institution of Engineers, Ghana Institute of Surveyors, Ghana Institute of Architects, Architects Registration Council, the Ghana Institute of Planners and the Parliamentary Service.
The Secretary to the Board stated that as the designs were submitted anonymously, they were labelled ‘Scheme 01’ and ‘Scheme 02’ by the assessment team, for anonymity and transparency, and that the members of the assessment panel did their scoring independent of each other.
He pointed out that the two firms were thereafter, written to by the ARC, to come and identify their schemes.
Mr. Abrefa Tawiah reveled that Design Associates and Development Consortium obliged and identified their Scheme as the one labelled ’02’, whereas Adjaye and Associates identified theirs as the one labelled ‘Scheme 01’.
He noted that the scores as collated by the assessment team scored Adjaye and Associates 77.06 percent (winner) while Design Associates and Development Consortium scored 59.47 percent (2nd Placed).
Mr. Abrefa Tawiah disclosed that the results were unanimous and all ten assessors placed Adjaye and Associates’ design first.
Mr. Abrefa Tawiah averred that Design Associates and Development Consortium never appealed against any part of the selection process, although Section 78 of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663) as amended makes a provision for that.
Section 78 of the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act 2003 (Act 663) states that “any supplier, contractor or consultant that claims to have suffered, or that may suffer loss or injury due to a breach of a duty imposed on the procurement entity by this Act, may seek review”.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
