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DOH: Denied contract of $12K per month for consultant was a mistake

Acting Health director Motusa Tuileama Nua in a Nov. 2016 file photo. [SN file photo]
It’s been corrected, the acting director says
joyetter@samoanews.com

Department of Health Acting Director Motusa Tuileama Nua has cleared the air that the "proposed contract" of $223,000 for DOH’s Independent financial consultant Uti Gebauer was a mistake that has been fixed with a proposed increase of $6,000 per month for an extension to one year, not the $12,000 per month, which allegedly is what kicked up a fuss among Health department employees.

Responding to Samoa News questions in a phone interview, Motusa said “currently the contract is for six months and it’s $4,000 monthly and they proposed a change order, which was denied by the Budget Office, that’s when I realized our mistake and I fixed it.”

The DOH Acting Director said that it wasn’t until after he signed the contract and it was denied that he realized the change order contract #C006094 was to the tune of $200,000 and that is a “significant amount of money — so I fixed my mistake and we have already made another proposal for a change order and this time it will be $6,000 a month.”

Motusa admitted, “This was my mistake and I have fixed it and moved on from there.”

(Samoa News notes the $6K a month contract change order approval is still pending.)

CONTRACT CHANGE ORDER ERROR

According to the Change order #001 for contract # C00C09A that was leaked to Samoa News, and is referred to by the DOH director as his mistake, the original six-month contract sum from September 2015 to February 2016 was $25,000 and the change order increases the amount to $204,000 with a total contract sum of $229,000. The contract, which was signed in November 2016, by Attorney General, Eleasalo Ale and the DOH Director, while Gebauer’s signature has no date, indicates that the contract is being “extended to 2 years with an increased rate to $12,000 month.” The contract also requests that it be expedited and according to the document the contract should be completed by September 28, 2018. 

GEBAUER’S CONTRACT — SCOPE OF WORK

In a letter to the Procurement Office dated October 21, 2016 regarding contract #C006094 for Gebauer, the DOH Acting Director noted that the letter “serves as official notice” that the contract (#C006094) is being extended to two years with an increased rate.

Motusa in his letter pointed out that the existing contract is scheduled to expire February 28, 2017 and the extension will continue to August 28, 2018.

“The scope will expand to include all grant programs. The new title; finance administrator will full oversight on all grants and finance matters for DOH.”

According to Motusa, the duties will include oversight on all operational procedures for the Finance Team; oversight on all operational procedures for the grants team; grant intermediary on grant compliance and deliverables; review, design, train and implements specific scope of work for each grant programs; monitor and administer periodic audits on all grants program; continue to review and recommend new systems to increase departmental efficiency; monitor past due accounts to vendors and implement timely payment schedules; work availability for DOH on Monday’s Wednesdays, and Fridays.”

Motusa further noted In his letter that the deliverables would be weekly and monthly attendance at key Leadership Meetings; weekly and monthly monitoring of finance team; monthly monitoring of grant managers team monthly meeting; attendance on all conference calls with identified high risk grant program and monthly training logs.

The new rate as stated in the Procurement letter is: “Monthly rate adjusted to $12,000”.

DENIAL LETTER FROM BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS OFFICE

Acting Director of Budget and Appropriations, Catherine Dora Saelua denied the “mistake” contract or the change order on December 2, 2016 in a letter addressed to DOH Director Motusa Tuileama Nua with the title “contract change order” that was leaked to Samoa News along with copies of the actual change order contract and emails from Gebauer sent to DOH Director and Deputy Director Fara Utu, on his scope of work, which indicates that Gebauer will oversee “all” of the Financial Administration of DOH amongst other duties.

The letter signed by Mrs. Saelua with serial number 2016-025 states that the Contract Change Order was denied because the “contract is not budgeted und the Local Account, nor was it approved under Public Law for FY (Fiscal Year) 2017; there was no justification provided to use the restricted grant account for the contract service.”

The Budget director indicates that there is “a standing Executive Directive to withhold excessive spending on Local Accounts,” and says “such actions are not in compliance with this Executive Order.”

Samoa News reached out to Uti Gebauer for a comment regarding this $200,000+ contract, and he told Samoa News the contract has been voided, and it was denied.