Auditor General Releases TA Program Report
Auditor General Heather Thomas today released a Report on the administration of Bermuda’s Travel Authorization program.
A spokesperson said, “This report is her third public interest report supporting Parliament in its examination of the Government of Bermuda’s continuing response to the coronavirus [COVID-19].
“This report focuses on the Government of Bermuda’s actions taken between March 2020 and November 2022 as it pertains to the implementation of its COVID-19 measures relating to travel to Bermuda by air, cruise or yacht and recognises the outstanding response of many public servants and those of the Ministry of Health and others contracted to support the Government’s initiatives.
“The Government showed that it was flexible, innovative and nimble over the last two years when responding to the COVID-19 crisis. COVID-19 dramatically disrupted the normal functions of the Government. The Government had to balance public health decision making with other competing priorities to mitigate the adverse COVID-19 consequences.”
Ms. Thomas said, “No one could have predicted the impact of the pandemic, and its effects and continued effects on the lives of Bermudians and residents. COVID-19, presented an unprecedented challenge for most governments; there are opportunities to capture these lessons and insights that can feed into stronger crisis preparedness programs and policies for Bermuda’s citizens and residents.
A spokesperson added, “This is her final point-in-time report on COVID-19. Her office, will continue to review any COVID-19 related expenses and initiatives as a part of their on-going auditing of the Government of Bermuda’s operations and financial transactions”.
The Auditor General’s Report follows below [PDF here]:
You can find more information on the links below from our dedicated website BermudaCovid.com, which is the most comprehensive resource and historic record available of Bermuda’s handling of the pandemic.
- All Charts: Vaccine, testing & more here
- Timelines: Dates of major developments here
- Test results: Chart of testing stats here
- Vaccine: Data covering vaccinations here
- Dedicated website: BermudaCovid.com
The report demonstrates this was a scandal of epic proportions. It says there were: “Multiple violations of the law and the Code of Practice for Project Management and Procurement in the awarding,
development, implementation and operation of the Electronic Travel Authorization Portal and the processing and
collection of revenues generated by the use of this facility. No competitive bids were pursued, and other established
guidelines were breeched or simply ignored, resulting in private sector service providers in Bermuda being able to
commence the provision of service with only verbal agreements, rather than properly executed contracts in place. Even
when contracts were eventually executed, they were not executed in accordance with the Code of Practice for Project
Management and Procurement, the Public Treasury (Administration and Payments) Acts 1969, or Financial Instructions”.
The government weren’t flexible, nimble or innovative. They took extreme measures for far too long. They did not have the vaccines until Britain sent us free vaccines, they did not have more than 250 tests available until Britain sent us free tests. The government were reactive, not proactive, supposedly relying on historic data, until the data no longer supported their position and then all the relying on data trumpeting disappeared. Inputting a TA was not innovative. The government used the COVID pandemic as a political soapbox each week, in order to try and win votes. It was sickening. Everything was done with a view of what is good for the PLP and not with the view of what is good for Bermudians.
Violations of the Law? Violation of the Constitution? Where are the police and DPP? Reads like business as usual for this government. Zero accountability and worse a don’t care, stick it to the public attitude. Why have a Head of the CS if he ignores such violations?