By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Significant policy reforms must be undertaken to ensure Bahamian engineers are truly involved in multi-million dollar investment projects and not used as mere “rubber stamps”, one local engineer has told Tribune Business. He added that while there have been some reforms, the issue remains “totally unfixed”.

Dashon Fox, principal at Optimum Designs, called on policymakers to allow for greater participation by Bahamian engineers in local projects, and not let them get the “crumb work”.

Mr Fox, who was a recent panellist at a Scotiabank Small Business Week panel discussion, told Tribune Business: “The sticky thing is that in the Bahamas a lot of investment is by foreign entities, and so by nature of that they come into the situation with their own professionals in their back pocket. It’s understandable that he or she may want to work with that team.

“I think it needs to be by law that that developer has to hire the Bahamian engineer; not just to do the crumb work but to actually do the design work. We do have legislation now; we have an Engineers Act, a Professional Engineers Board, so there is definitely growth. Things have improved significantly but it would be unfair to say we have arrived. There are still a lot of loopholes, and then there is the mindset some policy makers have.”

“Right now, we do have the Professional Engineers Board and a formal licensing system, where any engineer operating in the Bahamas has to be registered,” Mr Fox added. “To be called an engineer you have to be registered. For instance, if a developer comes to this country, already has his drawings, he would need to get permits to actually construct what he has.

“He then has to go to the Ministry of Works, where he is told they have to be signed by a registered engineer. He now has a dilemma, because he has completed drawings but he can’t get a permit, which is basically the Government saying: ‘You can go ahead and build this’. That’s often when the locally-registered engineer is called in to stamp the drawing and get them permitted.”

Mr Fox said the Bahamian engineer would then become the engineer of record, and ultimately assume liability for the drawings. “Once you become the engineer of record, legally speaking if anything goes wrong you are the engineer of record,” he said. “Theoretically speaking, the local engineer is supposed to review the drawings thoroughly but, in reality, particularly on larger projects, it’s inconceivable that you’re going to catch every single detail.

“Often times, what happens is rubber stamping, where an engineer flips through the drawings and ships them out. That’s not a practice that should be encouraged because is doesn’t serve the local engineer or the developer. We need to find a way to address that because even though we do have a formal licensing process, that issue is still totally unfixed. The foreign investor is not compelled to have the local engineer do the major work, the design part of the contract. He is only required to get the drawings stamped by a locally-registered engineer.”

Mr Fox added that there were circumstances when hiring foreign engineers could be justified. “There have been challenges, and part of it I think is a mindset where policymakers still feel as though it’s necessary to go outside of the Bahamas for certain engineering expertise,” he said.

“There are some occasions where that kind of activity is justifiable. For example, if you look at Baha Mar, just the sheer size of it, you would need a massive team of engineers. At this point in time there isn’t any firm in the Bahamas that can provide the resources for that.

“On one level it’s understandable that you have to look outside, but there are a lot of other projects which are of a scale where engineers here can provide all of the services. Even in a situation where one particular firm cannot provide all of the services, they can network, and by doing that they can provide the expertise and resources,” said Mr Fox.

“Engineers in the Bahamas have to continue to provide a high-quality product, and over time people will begin to understand that it is more economical to use a Bahamian engineer,” said Mr Fox.