The Landsome Bowl Cultural Centre is no more. It has been demolished to make way for a new and more fit for purpose facility. The advent of a new and improved facility is welcomed but there are concerns.
The new facility is intended to be in place for the 50th Anniversary of Anguilla’s Summer Festival which is expected to kick off on 21st July 2024. Is there sufficient time to construct and outfit a facility that is fitting for a 50th Anniversary Celebration?
The funding for the facility, to the tune of US$4,000,000.00, is being provided by DART, the new owners of Four Seasons Resort Anguilla. Should this mean that Anguilla’s Procurement legislation has no application?
Can the process being utilised to construct the new facility be considered a public procurement? The funding amount has been established. Is this to be considered a grant to the Government of Anguilla, which the government should ensure is utilised in a manner that ensures that the greatest value is obtained for the funds provided? Would the procurement process aid in this respect?
The new Landsome Bowl Cultural Centre will be Crown property once constructed. Should the government be interested in ensuring that the facility delivered is the best that could be secured for the funding obtained? Is this something that could be achieved by utilising Anguilla’s Public Procurement and Contract Administration Act?
The intent of public procurement policies and legislation is to make procurement by the Government more transparent, fair, and equitable and to award timely and cost-effective contracts to qualified contractors, suppliers, and service providers. If the Public Procurement and Contract Administration Act is not to be utilised, or is not applicable, what are the mechanisms put in place to ensure that value for money is achieved in respect of this project?
Persons are justifiably concerned to ensure that the new facility will be one of which we can all be proud. The time constraint, under which it will be built, is cause for some concern and this is exacerbated in the absence of information as to what procurement processes will be used to secure qualified contractors and suppliers. Since it is a public project, even if funded by a private source, the government and people of Anguilla have an interest in ensuring that the procurement processes used are transparent, fair, and equitable and will secure cost-effective contracts.
It is expected that the government being mindful of its duty to its citizens, have ensured that the procurement processes to be utilised are as robust as or more robust than those established by Anguilla’s Public Procurement and Contract Administration Act. Sharing the procurement processes that will be utilised should hopefully serve to quiet the concerns being expressed by some persons, about the failure to subject the development of the new Landsome Bowl Cultural Centre to the Government’s public procurement processes.
It is understood that developers are now required by all MoUs to commit to funding a specific or specific projects in Anguilla. Will it become the norm for the government’s established public procurement processes to be forgone for privately funded public facilities? This would be a norm that should not be welcomed. While grants are welcome and no doubt usually come with some strings, the government should always seek to ensure that the basic principles of transparency, fairness, equity, and the award of timely and cost-effective contracts to qualified contractors are achieved.
