‘Your turn will come’ – VP Jagdeo assures pre-qualified small contractors of at least one job this year

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has assured the more than 12,000 small contractors on the government’s pre-qualified list that each of them will be allocated at least one contract before the year ends, including all 530 who qualified in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).

He was addressing the hundreds of residents who, in their numbers, showed up for his Public Day outreach at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) office in Fort Wellington.

The vice president traced the assurance back to a commitment in the 2025 elections manifesto to put small works in the hands of far more people.

“If you’re on that pre-qualified list, you are in good shape,” he said.

Dr Jagdeo said the government threw the pre-qualification process open to the public after complaints that the earlier pool of contractors was too narrow. The notice ran for a month and was then stretched to three to give as many people as possible time to register online.

The guarantee covers contracts valued below $15 million, which the government allocates rather than sends out to tender.

He explained that the choice was deliberate, because forcing contractors to bid for the smaller works would have left them in the hands of only a few. Anything above that figure still goes to open bidding, where a single project can pull 30 to 40 competitors for one award.

For those who came away with nothing in the first round of allocations in the region, the Vice President was clear that they have not been skipped. Contractors who received work the first time will not be served again straight away, he said, and the government will instead move down the list to reach those still waiting.

“You have to wait your turn,” he told them, urging patience and repeating that the work would reach them over the course of the year.

He had a firmer message for anyone who let the three-month window pass without registering. They would have to wait for the next cycle, stating: “If you missed it, you missed the cycle for this year.” [Department of Public Information]