By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Top National Sports Authority (NSA) executives yesterday vehemently denied allegations that the awarding of a five-figure maintenance contract for the Sports Centre’s swimming pool was influenced by nepotism.

Leroy Archer, the Sports Authority’s chairman, told Tribune Business that “due process was followed” in the awarding of the contract to The Maintenance Squad.

The company beat rival bids from Gunite Pools and existing contractor, Summer Breeze, but a February 18, 2015, letter to Mr Archer alleged that its success was influenced by the family relationship between its principal and the Sports Authority’s project consultant, Brian Hassan.

The letter, which was copied to Tribune Business, alleged that Chris Sawyer is Mr Hassan’s son-in-law and claimed that the pool maintenance contract was neither put out to tender nor followed “normal protocol” at the Sports Authority.

All this was rejected yesterday by Mr Archer, who in a written response to this newspaper said three companies were invited to bid.

Three sealed bids were received, he added, and were opened and evaluated in the presence of himself and two other Sports Authority staff members.

“Mr Hassan was not present during the process,” Mr Archer emphasised, adding that while Mr Sawyer was dating his consultant’s daughter, there was “no legal relationship” between the two.

Mr Hassan, too, vigorously rejected the claims in the letter. Telling Tribune Business he was “very disturbed” by the letter’s contents, which the writer had copied to him, Mr Hassan said he had “no involvement at all” with the pool maintenance bid process or the ultimate contract award to The Maintenance Squad.

However, Tribune Business sources familiar with the situation verified that the contract award to The Maintenance Squad had caused concern among several management and board members at the NSA. And they corroborated several of the issues raised in the letter to Mr Archer.

In particular, they are understood to feel ‘blindsided’ by both the contract award and the family relationship between Mr Hassan and Mr Sawyer, which they only discovered after The Maintenance Squad had won the bid.

“They had no clue until it was brought to light, which was after the fact,” a well-informed source told Tribune Business, suggesting that The Maintenance Squad should not have bid on the pool maintenance contract.

At the very least, the source said, the connection between Mr Hassan and Mr Sawyer should have been disclosed in advance of the contract award.

They suggested that several NSA board members had asked Mr Archer to reassess the contract award, and possibly recall it, and urged him “to get out in front” of the issue anticipating it could lead to adverse publicity.

The NSA is also currently subsidised to the tune of millions of dollars by the Bahamian taxpayer, but Mr Archer yesterday denied that any of his fellow directors had either opposed the pool maintenance contract award or asked him to recall it.

“I’m not aware of that at all. None of my board members said that to me,” Mr Archer said. “The board members said to me that once you’re confident the contract is signed and delivered and the insurance is in place, they agree.”

Confirming that the pool maintenance contract was awarded to Mr Sawyer and The Maintenance Group as alleged, Mr Archer said he was not married to Mr Hassan’s daughter.

“At the time he actually put in the bid, I was not aware they were even dating,” Mr Archer told Tribune Business. “That was not in my purview.

“We had a full bid. We looked at the three. We looked at the pricing, the services they were offering, and focused on that. Then we made a decision.

“I always do things transparently and make sure we follow due process. Due process was followed, and once that is followed there is no problem. I don’t see how the chairman following due process gets into a letter going to The Tribune. I don’t understand it,” Mr Archer added.

“We followed due process, crossed the ‘t’s’ and dotted the ‘i’s’. It doesn’t matter who gets the contract as long as they can do the job for the children and the pool. That’s where I stand.”

NSA executives are now trying to determine who sent the letter, which appears to be have either been written by someone associated with, or sympathetic to, Summer Breeze, one of the losing bidders who had previously held the pool maintenance contract.

Mr Archer alluded to this, saying yesterday: “I think what has happened is that when I came in originally, Summer Breeze may have had it without a bid process.”

Mr Hassan was just as robust in his denials, telling Tribune Business: “I’m very disturbed by the letter. I had no dealings in awarding any contract to The Maintenance Group. “My record speaks for itself. I do everything above board, and I had no involvement in the pool tender. There’s a lot of mischief making going on.”

Mr Hassan deferred any further response to Mr Archer, to whom he said he reported directly. The pair are understood to be long-standing personal friends via a relationship that stretches over several decades.

Still, several Tribune Business sources suggested that the pool maintenance contract would come up for discussion when the Sports Authority board next met.

Apart from Mr Archer, the board includes Anton Sealey; ex-athletes Tim Munnings and Eldece Clarke; Wellington Miller and Eugene Poitier.

The February 18 letter to Mr Archer railed against what it described as “unfair practices”, and said of the pool contract: “We have now come to learn that the awarding of this contract did not follow any normal protocol for handling such contracts.

“Our associate had been providing this service for years, had a great working relationship with both your Authority and the Swim Federation, yet we were kicked out without cause, explanation or an evaluation of our service against any standard.”

The letter continued: “We have also been told that at no time a bid proposal was put out to tender, hence calling into question the results.

“As we understand it, from previous members of your Board, all contracts must be tabled before your Board for review and approval, but not in this case ...

“If our associates’ company is not the best suited based on a fair, transparent process, they have no issue at all and we will be done with this matter.”

The letter pegged the value of the pool maintenance contact at more than $110,000, but Mr Archer said it was worth $7,000 per month or $84,000 per year.