Liberia: Roviagate Technology Admits to Receiving Additional US$20k in MFDP Procurement Contract - FrontPageAfrica

Source: Front Page Africa
Author: Edwin Genoway

MONROVIA -- The Network Technician of Roviagate Technology and Chief Executive Officer of Impact Group of Companies Christopher Sumo Tellewoyon has admitted to the increment of an additional $20,000.00 to the recent controversial payment for the update and implementation of the budget management system for Fiscal Year 2024.

By Edwin G. Genoway, [email protected]

The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, in February this year entered into a contractual agreement with RoviaGate Technology, LLC, represented by Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Wleh Klark, Jr. The contract, worth US$200,000 included the annual update and implementation of the budget Management system for Fiscal Year 2024.However, Eric Akoi, who had served as Procurement Director of the Ministry before his dismissal, alleged that the contract was awarded outside of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) law.

Akoi accused deputy minister for administration Bill McGill Jones of requesting him to increase the cost of the Budget Management System Contract the Ministry signed with RoviaGate Technology, LLCT from US$180,000 to US$240,000, with the excess US$60,000 as his "signature fees".

According to him, the service provider had already agreed during the negotiation to perform the service for US$180,000 within the same turnaround time as the US$200,000.

But when the documents were presented to Mr. Jones for his signature on February 9, 2024, he refused on grounds that he needed to know what was available for him before affixing his signature.

"He was informed that we had concluded with the vendor to maintain the same cost of US$180,000 and that no additional amount was added because there were no significant additional deliverables. It was at this point that DMA Jones instructed for an increment to US$240,000 to which I declined."

However, in a media interaction on Friday, May 24, 2024, at the Roviagate Technology office in Sinkor 16th on the second floor, Mr. Tellewoyon said, "If you want to build a house and the engineer tells you that the duration of the house is one month, and you want the house in one week, what will you do? He answered and said, you will pay the additional cost to get the work done faster."

He added by saying, "The additional 20k was added to expedite the work on grounds that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning needed the work to be done sooner than later".

However, when Mr. Tellewoyon was quizzed as to whether there was a clause inserted into a contract that supports the expedition fees of over US$20k, he became furious and uneasy during the media interaction and prematurely ended the meeting and asked the journalists out of his office, disrespectfully and unpleasantly.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning officially rejects the reports involving the contract.

The Ministry in a statement that was forwarded to FrontPageAfrica by Mr. Jones rejected the report that the contractual agreement between the Ministry and RoviaGate Technology, LLC, represented by Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oliver Wleh Klark, Jr. was influenced by " kickbacks" received by officials of the ministry.

The ministry says the contract included the annual update and implementation of the budget management system for Fiscal Year 2024.

RoviaGate Technology, LLC is a 100 percent Liberian-owned core integrated solution information technology (ICT) firm duly registered under the laws of the Republic of Liberia.

The ministry unequivocally states that the contract for the execution of the project was in strict adherence to the regulations of the Public Procurement and Concession Act of 2010.

The Finance Ministry disclosed that the project had three options. According to the project document, the first option proposed that "the estimated cost for this project is US $220,000.00 (two hundred and twenty thousand USD) with an expected turnaround time of two (2) weeks after receipt of payment."

However, under the second option, the company put the estimated cost of the project at $200,000.00 (two hundred thousand USD) with an estimated turnaround time of four (4) weeks after receipt of payment.

The third option states that "the estimated cost for this project is US $180,000.00 (one hundred and eighty thousand USD) with an expected turnaround time of eight (8) weeks after receipt of payment."

The justification for selecting the second option of $200,000.00 (two hundred thousand United States dollars) was based on the four-week (4) turnaround period provided by the vendor and the pressing need to resubmit the draft budget to the legislature, as well as to facilitate the configuration, upgrade, and maintenance services for the Budget Management System to produce the Budget Book for Budget Fiscal Year 2024 (January 1, 2024-December 31, 2024).

Moreover, the adjustment to the Budget Management System (BMS) cost has been done with the previous government based on the different enhancements requested by the Ministry and implemented by the vendor.

For example, in FY 19/20, the Ministry of Finance paid forty-five thousand ($45,000) USD as a payment for the BMS. Also, in FY 20/21, the government paid fifty-five thousand ($55,000) USD. In FY 21/22, the government paid one hundred and eighty thousand ($180,000) USD and the same amount of one hundred and eighty thousand ($180,000) USD for FY 23.

This, the Ministry says, was done in accordance with Section 64, Subsection 2b, of the amended and restated Public Procurement and Concession Act of 2010, which provides "that in the event where the lowest evaluated responsive bid exceeds the budget for the contract by a substantial margin, the procuring entity shall try to obtain a reduction in price or scope that will result in a reduction of the contract price to an acceptable level."

This provision is amplified by Section 35, Subsections 2 and 3, of the Regulation of the PPCC Act of 2010.

The parties, in realization of the fact that cost is negotiable, agreed that the bid price of the financial proposal be equated to the proposed budget, which was acceptable to both parties.

The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning sees these accusations as a smear campaign and a refusal by the proponents to seek the facts.