Auditor general flags contract splintering at UHWI

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis has warned that some procurement heads are improperly splitting government contracts to avoid rules designed to prevent that practice.

In a January performance audit of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), she found that the hospital divided projects into smaller components and used direct contracting to hire contractors. She noted that combining those works would have required a competitive tender process.

The issue gained attention during a recent meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, where member Christopher Brown questioned why 634 of 986 procurement activities at UHWI over 15 months used direct contracting – about 64 per cent, which he described as “alarmingly high”.

The audit, based on data submitted to the Integrity Commission for 2024 and early 2025, confirmed the hospital’s heavy reliance on this method, and identified cases where contracts were split to facilitate it.

Monroe Ellis emphasised that such “splintering” raises red flags because it removes competition and undermines value for money. She cited the Public Procurement Act of 2018, which prohibits dividing procurements to reduce their value artificially or to justify using a less competitive method.

She stressed that, despite being impermissible, the practice remains widespread across public bodies and often leads to poor outcomes in direct contracting.

UHWI responded that the decisions occurred during a period of operational urgency, tight budgets, and limited supplier availability. However, it acknowledged that the approach was inappropriate and fell short of required legal and ethical standards.