Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

BYLES

After months of silence amid raging debates over the awarding of the $2 billion per annum Government Employee Administrative Staff Only (GEASO) health-scheme contract, Life of Jamaica (LoJ) has finally broken its code of silence.

In a Gleaner exclusive, the life and health-insurance company expressed displeasure at the Cabinet decision to put the 65,000-strong GEASO health-scheme contract back to public tender and has charged that the move extends the period that the multibillion-dollar contract has not benefited from open bidding.

Recently Contractor-General Greg Christie said that the Government's decision to put the health-scheme contract to tender again is perpetuating the illegal holding of the contract by current provider, Blue Cross of Jamaica. Mr. Christie's last annual report revealed that the GEASO contract - which is the single largest health-insurance scheme in the country - was not put to tender for 10 consecutive years (1995-2005).

Mr. Christie has argued that not following through on the Ministry of Finance's recommendation and the National Contracts Commission's (NCC) subsequent endorsement to award the contract to LoJ, would deal a devastating blow to the country's already wounded-contract awards process.

When contacted yesterday, Mr. Christie told our news team that his office had not received any communication from the Government detailing the reasons behind the decision to put the contract back on the bidding block. "We have received nothing, absolutely nothing from the Government," he stressed.

Process was flawed

Earlier this year, the NCC-endorsed Ministry of Finance recommendation was not approved by the previous Cabinet because the members of the GEASO monitoring committee insisted that the process was flawed and that Blue Cross of Jamaica should remain as the carriers. At the time, the Jamaica Teachers' Association questioned the reasoning behind the Government's decision to go against the recommendation of the actuaries it had hired to scrutinise the bids.

While LoJ stressed that it strongly supported the Government's procurement procedures, the company pointed out that this was the first time it would be subjected to a re-tender.

"We strongly believe in the bidding process that ensures transparency, equity and competitive pricing."

"Through this process, LoJ has won and lost many contracts over the years; however, this is the first occasion in which the outcome has resulted in a re-tender," the company explained.

Richard Byles, president and CEO of LoJ, told The Gleaner that his company played by the rules. "We have observed every requirement of the bidding process and were very pleased to see that our bid was the most cost effective and would have resulted in substantial savings to taxpayers," he said.

While disappointed with the outcome of the bid, LoJ said it remained committed to the highest levels of transparency and awaited the formal request for re-tender.

At the same time, Dr. Henry Lowe, president of Blue Cross of Jamaica, said the Government and the GEASO monitoring committee/unions were their clients and he believed "that they are working it out together among themselves to decide what is in their best interest for the future".

"Consequently, we are not in a position to make any further comment at this time," he said.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com