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by pltm
(PLTM) - When the newly installed VIP administration took office in 2019 and decided to give Clergyman Claude Skelton-Cline a near $100,000 consultancy contract, was due diligence followed in light of the Auditor General's damming report of his $571,800 Neighbourhood Partnership Project contract?
Commissioner for the ongoing Commission of Inquiry the Rgt. Hon. Sir Gary Hickinbottom questioned Permanent Secretary in the Premier's Office Dr. Carolyn O'Neal Morton on the matter during her time before the CoI on May 18.
Commissioner Hickinbottom asked her whether there was a set criteria by which her office would conduct a due diligence exercise before issuing contracts.
She replied that it is normally done in terms of their qualifications, their trade license and verifying who they claim to be.
"Do you know if the Premier's Office was aware that Mr. Skelton Cline, who is Grace Consulting, had previously been criticised by the Auditor General in relation to his work on 10 the Neighborhood Partnership Project?" Commissioner Hickinbottom asked.
"If I would be aware of it? I am--I'm not sure. I'm not sure that I'm aware of it," the Permanent Secretary answered.
She was then asked if someone's past history and their performance under previous contracts would be scrutinised.
"It's the ongoing officer who might look at that situation," she replied.
"You said that you will investigate their proposal. Does that investigation involve looking at things like an Auditor General's report to check whether they have performed contracts properly in the past?" Commissioner asked.
She replied: "I don't recall that being included."
She was further asked, "So, would it be fair to say that--that whatever policy you have in place isn't written down in one single place, is it?"
"Not necessarily," she replied.
The Commission then asked her if it was left to the judgment of the individual officers to how far they take it? To which she said a supervisor would control the situation.
"You get the proposal, and you look at it, and you make sure that the person, based on your perception, is qualified to do the job, whether subcontractor or whomever; and then based on that, we make sure that they're in line with statutory requirements because, if they are not, then we cannot issue a contract to them, so all of those steps we would take," she remarked.
She added, "It varies depending on what the person is going to do. If somebody's applying to provide legal services, then, of course, they have to be a lawyer, a legal professional, and we can verify that easily, stuff like that. If the person is a contractor, we can verify whether he's a bona fide contractor or not by placing a call to the Ministry of Finance or to Public Works. We try to verify those things in that way."
Was CSC's Work Monitored?
In the meantime, Counsel to the Commission Mr Bilal Rawat questioned the Permanent Secretary on whether the terms of the agreement in the contract where Skelton Cline must devote sufficient time and attention to the performance of service was monitored.
"I don't know, sir. I don't know how it was monitored," she said.
She said there 'might be' an internal memo on how the contract was being executed.
Good Standing after contract inked
Another area of concern that was raised by the CoI was having the good standing certificate issued after the contract was inked between the government and Skelton-Cline.
When she was asked if she was faced with that situation would it cause her concern, she said, it could mean that someone mixed up the dates but admitted that "It would; looking at the dates it would," as it would be part of the verification process, she informed.
The Neighbourhood Partnership Project was issued to Skelton Cline In 2008, by then Education Minister, now Premier and Minister of Finance Hon. Andrew Fahie via his then newly established consulting firm – Claude Ottley Consulting Limited.
Fast forward to 2019, a leaked report from the Auditor General's Office several questions were raised about the work conducted under the project.
The report said the contract was to coordinate and mobilise churches, schools and other community groups and organisations to provide assistance and guidance to the vulnerable youth in the territory.
The programme ran from 2009 to 2010 under the VIP regime and was a major controversy.
