Column: Fahy On Housing Procurement & More
[Opinion column written by Michael Fahy]
On 26th June 26 Minister Zane DeSilva undertook to share with the House of Assembly the “rigorous technical and procurement evaluation” [the Minister’s own words] conducted by the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee [“AHAC”] before certain contracts were given out to Coastal Precast Systems and Preconco Ltd. Remember, these are the two companies that the Minister has put his trust in to build hundreds and hundreds of homes for Bermudians.
Why is this important? Because the Minister has plainly stated that no formal RFP process was followed for the award of the first tranche of building across these sites for $64 million of taxpayer funds despite there being, said the Minister, “literally hundreds and hundreds” [of proposals] from many people and organizations. When I pressed the matter in Parliament, the Minister said there was no RFP “…because we know how RFPs work. And I will tell you what, if we would have been through an RFP on this particular matter, we would be here next year and we wouldn’t have built a home …” A couple of months later, the AHAC Chairman, Hugo Pereira said that “BLMC follows its own tendering process. At the end of the day, we followed BLMC’s tendering process, OK?” Weird, really, when you consider the extensive procurement requirements set out by the Bermuda Government’s Code of Practice for Project Management and Procurement Code of Practice Third Edition April 2026. These exist for good reason.
A government spokesperson also said that, the two publicly funded quangos leading the project, the Bermuda Housing Corporation and the Bermuda Land Management Corporation, did not need permission from the Office of Project Management and Procurement to bypass the typical government bidding procedure as they had the “legal authority and responsibility for their procurement processes”.
Given that the Bermuda Affordable Housing Strategy is looking to build 974 housing units at a cost of approximately $418.5 million, I would have thought a transparent procurement process open to the sunshine of public scrutiny was absolutely required given the huge sums of money potentially involved. All ironic given this Minister’s penchant for criticizing the airport no-bid contract [which was tremendously transparent and received the seal of approval from an independent and well-respected panel!] No such transparency from the Minister, who seems to be hiding behind the AHAC, anonymous spokespersons, and not widely known procurement processes.
Given the general failings thus far with Government delving into affordable housing, with the Bermudiana project standing testament to this, I have posed several questions in Parliament that are to be answered on 25th September 2026. They are, in summary:
1. Would the Minister please provide Parliament with the procurement methodology document[s] and detail the rigorous technical and procurement evaluation utilized by the Bermuda Housing Corporation [“BHC”]/Bermuda Land Management Company [“BLMC”]/AHAC for the purposes of evaluating proposals made for the projects listed in the Minister’s statement to this Honorable House on 26th June 2026?
2. Would the Minister please provide Parliament with a full listing of all proposals received and considered by the AHAC for the developments at Morgan’s Point, Victoria Place and Albert Row and Tommy Fox Road to which the Minister referred in his statement of 26th June 2026 to this Honourable House? Such listing to include [i] the name of the entities that made proposals [ii] date[s] the proposal[s] was/were considered by the AHAC [iii] the overall number of units that the entity was proposing to build [iv] the cost per square foot of each unit in the proposal[s] [v] the reason[s] each proposals was either recommended for acceptance or rejection by the AHAC?
3. A statement released to the media dated 21 July 2026, by the Ministry of Housing and Municipalities said, “Following the technical assessment, Committee representatives visited the manufacturing facilities of some vendors to conduct direct evaluations of completed housing installations utilizing the proposed systems, including an on-site inspection of capsule housing units in use to assess performance under actual occupancy and environmental conditions. This formed part of the Committee’s broader due diligence process prior to making its recommendations.” Would the Minister please advise Parliament of [i] the names of each manufacturer visited by AHAC representatives and/or the Minister [ii] the date of the visits to the manufacturer by AHAC representatives and/or the Minister [iii] the identity of the representatives of the manufacturer that the AHAC representatives and/or the Minister met [iv] the costs of all travel expenses incurred by BHC/AHAC/BLMC/the Ministry of Housing and Municipalities to attend the meetings with the said manufacturers?
Whilst I agree that housing is urgent, these questions are important, as time moves quickly with the Minister announcing yet another phase with 400 homes to be built over 18 months. We must get this right to ensure we do not end up with another Bermudiana…
And before anyone says the OBA simply criticizes, we have written about and shared numerous ideas and thoughts on the way forward. I urge you to take a look at the numerous suggestions made by our team.
- Michael Fahy is the Shadow Minister of Economy, Labour and Housing and the MP for Constituency 20. He can be reached on mfahy@oba.bm or opedfahy@gmail.com.
“the Bermuda Affordable Housing Strategy is looking to build 974 housing units at a cost of approximately $418.5 million”
We know that the 94 low cost housing at Grand Atlantic/Bermudiana Beach cost over $100,000,000 to build.
How on earth can anyone believe that the PLP Government will build more than 10 times as many units for less than half that cost?
Pertinent questions. Watch Minister DeSilva deflect, squirm and throw a screaming fit in the HOA.
DeSilva is great at announcing grand stuff and making promises on delivery on such promises. Actual delivery on those promises, not so much.
There is one excuse after another. One delay after another. Prime example: Where are the cubicle homes promised for availability in February 7 months ago? They sit at Morgans Point somewhere, possibly victims of vandals by now. These things arrived, late, months ago all ready to be plugged into utilities and used. The site is not ready. Why? It is now almost a year since DeSilva announced them, with his usual great fanfare. A year to get permits and prepare the site.
These park model trailer homes have a lifespan of maybe 20 years with normal maintenance and care. Much less the way our Government takes care of things and the way the tenants are likely to abuse them.
How long before the first keys are turned over to the first couples? These are NOT family sized homes.
Mr Fay the construction industry supersedes all political party’s Please wait your turn
Very good running his mouth, but when OBA was in power, how many did the OBA build? Or even better, the OBA stopped a housing project at Dockyard!! But found money for Americas Cup!!
Did the airport go out to tender?
Did Americas Cup works went out to tender?
As answer those questions to the public.
Accusations with NO proof, well its OBA trash talking!!