A day before the merger with Ca Mau province, on June 30, the Inspectorate of Bac Lieu province (old) concluded many violations in the Project to purchase foreign language teaching and learning equipment and IT for public primary schools in the province.
With advice and supervision as well as no
The project to purchase foreign language teaching and learning equipment and IT for public primary schools (Project) was approved by the People's Committee of Bac Lieu province (old) for investment policy, feasibility study report and contractor selection plan with a total investment of more than 116.6 billion VND. The scale of the project is to equip 116 public primary schools in the province, each school with 1 foreign language and IT classroom, including 10 items. The provincial budget capital is part of the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021-2025. The implementation period is from 2022-2025.
The project includes 11 packages, including 9 consulting packages selected by bidding and 2 domestic online public bidding packages (1 project management consulting package and 1 equipment procurement package).
The conclusion stated that during the process of preparing, implementing and implementing the project, the investor and relevant agencies and organizations had limitations, shortcomings and violations. Southern Company ( price appraisal) did not collect or refer to market prices, causing a budget loss of more than 526.3 million VND. Minh Ha Company's survey was not comprehensive, compared the list of 100% of primary schools in the project even though at least 60 schools had computers, violating the purpose and scope of the survey.
The Super Thanh - CDC consortium (providing and installing equipment) is behind schedule, requesting payment when not yet accepted, using equipment without labels, incorrect origin, invalid documents, and incomplete construction logs. The Southern - Dac Ngan consortium (project management consultant) has a small volume compared to the bidding documents, leading to an excess payment of more than 280 million VND; lack of inspection and acceptance before signing the contract, and unreported personnel changes.
Nam Viet Company (monitoring equipment installation) loosely supervised and signed a record of inspection of input equipment before having a monitoring contract, allowing many violations to occur.
Proposal to review the responsibilities of a series of individuals
In addition to the violations of contractors, the inspection conclusion also clearly stated the limitations, shortcomings, and violations of the old Department of Education and Training of Bac Lieu province (investor). This unit has submitted a policy to invest in a foreign language teaching and learning project, in which the investment portfolio includes equipment (student computers and air conditioners) that are not in accordance with Circular 37/2021/TT-BGDDT.
The inspectors pointed out a series of violations in the work of preparing for investment and managing school equipment projects: Applying inappropriate documents, approving unlicensed estimates, leading to the implementation of 3 bidding packages at the investment preparation stage that did not ensure procedures; project management packages were implemented late compared to the approved plan; signing and paying contracts in excess of volume, causing the consulting unit to suffer a difference of more than 280 million VND; not urging the equipment supplier to speed up the progress as committed; paying phase 1 while some schools had not completed the installation and testing, contrary to the contract content; accepting and paying equipment when the documents did not ensure legality, the equipment was not of the right origin, brand, or brand.
As an investor, this Department has loosened inspection and supervision, allowing consulting units to commit many violations such as: Valuation not in accordance with procedures, contractor selection not ensuring regulations, changes and reduction of project management personnel, irresponsible supervision and audit units, and no violation detection.
The Chief Inspector of the province recommends that the Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Lieu province (old - now Ca Mau province) direct the review and clarification of the responsibilities of the Director and Deputy Directors of the Department of Education and Training (depending on each stage), especially those who directly sign documents related to violations. The Department of Education and Training must review the responsibilities of the Department of Finance - Planning and related individuals for the violation. The review must coordinate with the Party organization to review the responsibilities of Party members according to regulations.
