Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 22, 2025

COI Report: Gov’t ignored guidelines for procuring private office spaces

COI Report: Gov’t ignored guidelines for procuring private office spaces

The Commission of Inquiry (COI) report has indicated that authorities in the territory have been ignoring guidelines regarding the procurement of accommodation for government-run departments and offices.
The report zoned in on one guideline which indicates that government must not commence a lease until the property is ready for occupation. However, COI Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom found that the government has ignored this stipulation in multiple instances.

“Despite the Accommodation Guidelines emphasising the importance of not executing a lease until the premises are ready for occupation, there are several examples of significant gaps between the commencement date of the lease and the date of occupation,” the report states.

Sir Gary also indicated that the Premier’s Office also ignored the said guidelines when it leased part of Cutlass Tower for the Ministry of Finance to use following the September 2017 hurricanes. He said concerns were raised about the BVI government incurring financial obligations for some months in advance of occupation.

The report suggests problems normally arise with procurement of accommodations when the Deputy Governor’s Office (DGO) is excluded from the process, as it was regarding the lease of Cutlass Tower.

The report further stated that despite the guidelines, the procurement process can also be circumvented; as what happened with the lease for office space at the Tortola Pier Park for the Ministry of Finance.

“Whilst there were clearly strong mitigating circumstances, this lease did not go through the DGO. It was not signed by the Premier, and it does not appear to have been authorised by Cabinet. Moreover, the space was occupied for almost eight months before a written agreement was signed and the lease was somewhat belatedly vetted by the Attorney General,” the report indicated.

However, Commissioner Hickenbottom noted these are minor criticism of a system that appears relatively sound from a governance perspective. He noted there are policies and procedures to ensure transparency, accountability, and oversight of the government leasing privately-owned accommodation.

The report also noted the system has continued to evolve and develop with input from across the government over the years.

“Those responsible for the leasing of property by the BVI government, notably the senior public officers, are (like many other such officers in the public service) experienced and dedicated. There is no suggestion that, stretched as they might be, difficulties are encountered as a result of a lack of capacity or capability in respect of policy formulation and implementation,” the report said.

“Though no doubt, as with any system designed to deliver good governance, improvements can be made, on the evidence I have seen, the governance in relation to BVI government leases provides a good example of how the Public Service in the BVI is capable of developing and operating a coherent system that ensures a substantial degree of transparency and effective use of public money,” it continued.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Explosive Email Shows Sarah Ferguson Begged Forgiveness from Jeffrey Epstein After Taking His Money
Corrupt UK Politician Ed Davey Demands Elon Musk’s Arrest for Supporting Democracy
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Alibaba Debuts Open-Source Deep Research Agent with Benchmarks Rivaling OpenAI
Marcos Faces Legacy-Defining Crisis as Flood Projects Scandal Sparks Massive Tide of Protests
China’s Micro-Drama Boom Turns Stalled Real Estate Projects into Lavish Film Sets
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
'Company Got 5,189 H-1B Visas, Then Laid Off 16,000 Americans': US Defends New $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Golf legend tells Omar she should be 'sent back to Somalia' after her Kirk comments
EU Set to Bar Big Tech from New Financial Data Access Scheme
China Bans Livestreaming and AI in Religion Amid Crackdown on Shaolin Temple Scandal
Documents Reveal Mandelson Failed to Declare Epstein-Funded Flights as MP in 2003
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Harris Memoir Sparks Backlash from Democrats for Blunt Critiques in ‘107 Days’
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Japan’s ‘Death-Tainted’ Homes Gain Appeal as Prices Soar in Tokyo
Massive Attack Withdraws from Spotify Over Daniel Ek’s €600M Defence-AI Investment
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
×