Minister Burch Provides Update On Infrastructure

“There is an urgent need to provide stimulus to the local economy in order to retain and boost employment numbers in the wake of the economic downturn sparked by the Coronavirus pandemic,” Minister of Public Works Lt/Col David Burch said.

Speaking at the PLP Annual General Conference held earlier this week, Minister Burch said, “We have a list of “shovel ready” projects that are potentially executable within a few month. These projects are mostly infrastructure improvements and will not add further burden to government operational expenses. The project’s selection principles are to maximize the employment of the private sector while providing much-needed refreshing of chronically neglected infrastructure. This project is directed particularly at the small to medium sized contractor.”

Minister Burch’s full speech:

The Ministry of Public Works is responsible for maintaining Bermuda’s critical assets and infrastructure. In fact, Public Works is the lead agent in delivering the infrastructure requirements upon which so many of the services provided to this Island depend on. Some of the assets and infrastructure that the ministry is responsible for building and maintaining include:

• 617 roads amounting to 225 Kilometers of road surface,
• 751 buildings maintained by Public Lands and Buildings with an insured value of over 1.5 billion dollars,
• 85 public docks and purpose built berths servicing cruise ships, cargo ships and hundreds of private vessels and yachts each year,
• 5 reservoirs with a capacity of 2.5 million gallons of Bermuda’s precious and very limited fresh water resource,
• seventy five [75] amenity parks, beaches and school grounds protected under the Bermuda National Parks Act 1986, and
• Bermuda Land Development Company,
• West End Development Corporation,
• Bermuda Housing Corporation, and
• the Ocean View and Port Royal Golf Courses,

The maintenance and enhancement of our infrastructure and facilities must remain a priority, because infrastructure development is a vital component in encouraging a country’s economic growth. For example infrastructure development will:

• provide the adequate capacity for future growth Bermuda so desperately needs
• enhance visitor experience when they come to Bermuda. And more importantly, it will
• provide a key source of job creation and economic empowerment going forward

There is an urgent need to provide stimulus to the local economy in order to retain and boost employment numbers in the wake of the economic downturn sparked by the Coronavirus [“COVID-19”] pandemic.

We have a list of “shovel ready” projects that are potentially executable within a few month. These projects are mostly infrastructure improvements and will not add further burden to government operational expenses. The project’s selection principles are to maximize the employment of the private sector while providing much-needed refreshing of chronically neglected infrastructure. This project is directed particularly at the small to medium sized contractor.

Released a Request for Suppliers Qualifications [“RFSQ”] across multiple disciplines was issued to generate a prequalification list of approved contractors/companies that can participate in the program. This approach will be in line with Sections 17 Pre-Qualification Procedure and 34 Approved Contractor lists of the Code of Practice for Project Management and Procurement [“Code”]. The prequalification criteria will include a scoring of technical competence, local employment benefit, and a schedule of unit rates. Suitable companies will then be added to an approved contractor list.

With the development of the list, MPW would then use the restricted procedure [section 16 of Code] to quickly obtain three or more quotations from the various suppliers, grouped by suitability and vocation, to select a contractor for each project. Where works are specialized, or contractors’ availability is limited, either through companies already obtaining a project from the program or natural scarcity, a Single source contract will be negotiated based upon the unit rates. The work to be done under this contract and in accordance with these specifications consists of furnishing of equipment, material, supervision, labor, technical knowledge, and skills necessary to satisfactorily and safely complete the job as outlined in this agreement. The primary responsibility for such services shall be that of the Contractor under the general direction of the ministry staff.

To ensure apportion of the stimulus funding across all the participating businesses, MPW will maintain a register of approved contractors lists and awarded contracts to ensure that no one company monopolizes the project list. Once a company obtains a project, they will be rotated to the bottom of the list for consideration to allow other companies an opportunity for Work. The guiding principle would be to prioritize all companies that provide the most employment benefit per dollar spent and spread the work among Bermudian owned and operated businesses.

As a number of the projects listed are estimated to fall above $250k in value, multiple cabinet approvals would be required for contract awards to comply with the existing Code. A blanket Cabinet approval was secured for all contracts within this program list that exceed $100,000 single source or $250,000 in value.

To streamline the internal approval process, MPW Accounting Officer[s] will oversee all contract approvals in this program, report to Cabinet on the program progress, and meet the economic objectives in an information memo at the end of the program period. This approach will stop a host of unnecessary Cabinet memorandums related to each contract award excessing $100,000 for Single Source or contracts exceeding $250,000.

The RFSQ process started on December 7th 2020 and closes on February 15th, following approval of the program by Cabinet. Thereafter, it is envisioned that the award of contracts can begin following the population of the Approved Contractor List. The Ministry will work concurrently with the approval process to advance timelines as quickly as possible.

The BEDC have partnered with the ministry to coordinate, conduct sessions on the application process and assist those small contractors in completing the application.

The plan is to utilize medium to small contractors for the work that will be done at dock and building refurbishments, new construction, Canal clearance, roadside fencing and health & safety improvements.

A consultant Project Manager, Mr. Robert Richardson has been assigned by the Ministry to this project to coordinate the efforts of all those involved as well as liaise with the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation.

The Ministry is working in consultation with the Office of Project Management and Procurement [OPMP] as well as the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation [BEDC]. The intention is for BEDC to provide assistance to small and medium sized Contractors to complete the required submission documents for the RFSQ.

We recognize that some small to medium sized Companies may not have the administrative support to respond to government solicitations and the associated procurement requirements and so assistance is being provided by BEDC.

As of today -

• 175 companies have been emailed to raise awareness about the program.
• Email to the professional organizations

BEDC –

• 81 Virtual Session Registrations
• 35 Virtual sessions actual attendance
• BEDC have advertised via numerous platforms [social media, radio interviews, FB, Website, Email Blast]
• Planned sessions totaled 20 but have been reduced to 13 as no one registered for 7 slots
• One more Virtual session planned for Feb 2nd

Up to today we have received 44 official individual submissions with 11 being fully completed to stimulus@gov.bm:

During early discussions some small contractors have highlighted impediments to participating such as mobilization costs & the delayed payment schedule. As this programme is operating under specific financial instructions that allow for flexibility – I have asked the team to explore ways that we can address both of these impediments.

We are determined to involve as many small and medium sized contractors as possible and are providing every opportunity for them to become involved. I invite all those who view this announcement and know a small or medium sized contractor to inform them of this initiative. They can gain more information by signing on to the government website or emailing stimulus@gov.bm or admin1@bedc.bm.

We can pay people to sit at home or we can pay them to repair our infrastructure – we choose the latter.

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