By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMIAN investor group is slamming the 20-year "wall of silence" surrounding its "one-stop" Road Traffic solution, arguing that it has been deliberately shut out of national development.

Franklyn Robinson and Charles Beneby, principals in Bahamas Automobile Safety and Inspection Centre Ltd, told Tribune Business that successive administrations - both PLP and FNM - had ignored their proposed remedies for the Road Traffic Department's multiple woes without explaining why.

The duo, in an interview with this newspaper, said they had partnered with world-class specialists in the development of automated vehicle inspection technology and licence plate production to submit detailed plans for the overhaul of these key Road Traffic operations.

Mr Robinson said their proposal for a new annual vehicle inspection process, in particular, would have increased revenues from this income stream by 30 per cent and created 300 local jobs "at zero cost to the Government".

The Bahamas Automobile Safety and Inspection Centre Ltd proposals were first submitted to the Government in 2014, in response to the bidding process for modernising the vehicle licensing process that was ultimately won by Data Torque.

Mr Robinson said the proposal was subsequently presented to then-deputy prime minister, Philip Davis, but despite multiple meetings with now-outgoing Road Traffic controller, Ross Smith, the group obtained no clear answers on the former government's direction or intentions.

Vehicle licence plate manufacturing was handed to the Department of Correctional Services (Fox Hill prison) in 2016, in partnership with US firm John R. Wald Company, as the Government rejected the rival offer from Mr Robinson's group and their joint venture partner, UTSCH AG.

And Mr Robinson said he was further "shocked" after it emerged last year that the former Christie administration had entered into a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement to develop a new $24.5 million Road Traffic Department headquarters with a group featuring now-Exuma MP, Chester Cooper.

Mr Robinson said leaked details of the business plan drawn up by BFG PPP Ventures I Limited (PPP1) were very similar to his group's proposal, especially on the vehicle inspections bays/lanes with car lifts.

He added that Bahamas Automobile Safety and Inspection Centre then approached the Free National Movement (FNM) in a bid to have its proposal incorporated into the party's agenda should it win office in the May 10 general election, only for its efforts to seemingly fall into 'a black hole'.

The group was subsequently able to submit its plans to Frankie Campbell, the minister of transport, following the election but has yet to receive "any follow-up" from the Minnis administration.

Mr Robinson told Tribune Business he had been further discouraged by Mr Campbell's comment that government is "continuous", which he interpreted as meaning the new administration was still likely to go with the BFG PPP even though all PPP arrangements entered into by the Christie administration are under review and have been placed on hold.

As a result, Messrs Robinson and Beneby said they and their fellow investors have been left questioning whether there is any space for Bahamians - who lack the necessary political, family and similar connections - to participate in national development.

"All I need this present government to do right now is respond to our proposal, and give us an honest hearing on it as opposed to this wall of silence," Mr Robinson blasted.

"We are waiting to see if this government is going to be as deaf and unresponsive to private Bahamian citizens, who have done the necessary due diligence for development of this country, or are they going behind this [BF PPP] deal.

He added: "How are we looking at Bahamians participating in their country? Why is this proposal being ignored? Somebody needs to give us an answer as to why it's being ignored.

"The country is not going to grow if we're not growing Bahamians. When are we going to see a firm commitment from this government for Bahamians to not only be engaged on the periphery but in the key sectors of the economy?"

Mr Robinson traced the roots of his disillusionment back more than 20 years, explaining: "We've been involved in trying to find a solution for the Road Traffic Department for 20 years.

"We started in 1996, when we first proposed a solution. We started off introducing the digitised driver's licence back in 1996. It was a joint venture between myself, Digital Access Control Systems and Kodak, which did the laminate for the US driver's licence.

"There was not even an acknowledgement of our proposal. That has been the experience ever since, leading up to the latest proposal."

Messrs Robinson and Beneby, and their fellow Bahamas Automobile Safety and Inspection Centre investors, tried again when the Road Traffic Department issued its Request for Proposal (RFP) for the modernisation of the vehicle licensing process in 2014.

The group, and their foreign joint venture partners, went beyond the RFP's terms in proposing "a complete solution; a one-stop shop" for Road Traffic's ills, including vehicle licence plate manufacture and an automated vehicle inspection process.

They partnered with two German companies - UTSCH AG, which is among the market leaders in licence plate security, and MAHA Maschinenbau Haldenwang GmbH & Co. KG (MAHA), the global manufacturer and supplier of vehicle safety testing equipment - on the relevant components of their proposal.

Tribune Business has seen copies of both the Bahamian group's business plan and correspondence with their joint venture partners, especially UTSCH. Their credibility is further bolstered by the fact that Mr Smith, the outgoing Road Traffic controller, previously confirmed to this newspaper that Bahamas Automobile Safety and Inspection Centre was one of the two final bidders for the licence plate manufacturing contract.

Yet despite partnering with "premier companies", Mr Robinson said the group's proposal generated "zero interest" from the then-government. "We got an e-mail stating that our proposal was not even short-listed," he disclosed.

"It has never happened in their existence before that they did not meet the shortlist of a process. There was no no explanation whatsoever, even though the proposal far exceeded what was asked for."

Mr Robinson added that "after everybody got over the shock", the group decided to pursue the potential outsourcing of Road Traffic's annual vehicle inspections and the licence plate manufacturing. Yet despite meeting with the Road Traffic controller "numerous times" over the following three years, they were unable to obtain clear answers on the Government's processes and thinking.

"We were told that other private entities had offered to do this through the prison," Mr Robinson said of the vehicle licence plates. "We attempted to sell the technology benefits of what we were offering in terms of the technical advances far beyond the prisoners doing the plates."

Utilising UTSCH's expertise, he explained that their plates would have contained an embedded chip allowing the police to instantly detect vehicles that were stolen, unlicensed, uninsured or whose owners had committed other offences.

"Sadly, the plates that were being proposed would have assisted greatly in the crime fighting efforts in the country," Mr Robinson told Tribune Business. "There was a chip embedded in them that transmitted the insurance status, status of the vehicle and any outstanding warrants.

"UTSCH gave it to the Cayman Islands at $1.5 million because we [the Bahamas] turned our back on them. In Cayman, the authorities can sit at a computer screen and get daily updates on the status of vehicles - who's driving with expired insurance, and who's driving on the streets with a violation.

"It's so difficult for the police to now determine who is who, and who's running around with an expired plate. This system would have transmitted such data to passing police cars or a cellular phone using a particular app."

Recalling developments leading up to the then-government's decision to select the 'prison option', Mr Robinson said the group met with Mr Davis, the then-deputy prime minister, after what he described as unsatisfactory meetings with Colin Higgs, the Ministry of Works' permanent secretary, and former minister of transport, Glenys Hanna Martin.

"Not giving up on the process, we got an audience with the Deputy Prime Minister [Mr Davis]," he recalled. "He gave us an ear, took and accepted the proposal, and said he'd get back to us."

Mr Robinson said he received feedback in 2016 that the Christie administration was taking a serious look at Bahamas Automobile Safety and Inspection Centre's proposal in 2016, prompting him to travel to Germany to finalise all agreements and training arrangements with both joint venture partners.

"I came back to the Bahamas with a back-up plan," he said of the vehicle plates. "They [UTSCH] would offer the plates to the Government at no cost whatsoever. They would sent the equipment down, and if the Government liked the product they would continue to provide the service.

"There was no response to that whatsoever from the Government. Then it came out they were going the prison route." Mr Beneby added that while the idea of training and equipping prisoners with skills was a laudable idea in preparing them to re-enter society, this objective will not be achieved with the vehicle licence plates.

"They're only teaching them a skill that is non-marketable, non-transferable," he added. "They are learning skills that are a dead-end function."

Thwarted on the vehicle licence plates, Messrs Robinson and Beneby turned their focus to the automated, technical annual vehicle inspection technology and processes they had offered to the Government.

"The proposal included 12 locations throughout the entire Bahamas, which would have provided the operating space for the Road Traffic Department," Mr Robinson told Tribune Business.

"The main headquarters in Nassau would have accommodated the Road Traffic Department; we designed it that way with space for Road Traffic, vehicle inspections and insurance companies under one roof.

"It would have included a six-bay inspection facility that accommodates heavy vehicles, light vehicles and motorbikes and zero cost to the Government."

Mr Robinson said the group had proposed a 60:40 revenue split from the new inspections process in favour of the Government, and added: "The only thing that we had asked is that they provide the land and we lease it from them. That was the only thing being asked."

Still unable to obtain answers, Mr Robinson said he was "shocked" when details of the Christie administration's PPP arrangement with the BFG special purpose vehicle (SPV) were revealed.

"I was stunned. This is word for word what I proposed," he told Tribune Business. "On top of that, all along Ross Smith said they had not made a decision. It was a shock to me that the inspection process was now going on, and I'm still waiting for a response from the Government.

"That answers the question as to what was going on with my proposal, and why there's a wall of silence. That's why the Road Traffic Department languishes in the Thomas A Robinson Stadium.

"Our concern still is: The Government has a choice. They could further entangle themselves in this PPP thing. Or they could say of us: This is a well thought-out and researched private sector initiative that checks all the boxes we need to tick."

BFG's proposed Road Traffic Department headquarters would be located off Tonique Williams-Darling Highway on land near the Penn building, Tribune Business understands.

Mr Cooper's involvement in the BFG PPP was recently confirmed by Desmond Bannister, minister of works, who told Parliament: "The model for a commercially viable public-private partnership is the one that the honourable member for Exuma and his business partners have put together for an office complex on Tonique Williams Darling Highway, where the Government will invest in the project and will be given preference shares in the ownership of the company that will own the building.

"The Government will then rent the building for 10 years and, at the end of that period, the building will be turned over to the Government for $100. On top of that the Government will be paid 60 per cent of the residual revenue in the ownership company. So, at the end of the day, the Government will get its initial investment back. That's a win-win agreement. It's the type of agreement that would make sense."

PPPs typically involve private sector investors raising the necessary capital, thereby alleviating the upfront financial burden on the Government. The latter then leases or rents the properties/assets involved, ensuring the investors recover their money and make a profit, before ownership is turned over to the state - usually after a 10 to 25-year period.

BFG's business plan, according to details presented in the media, seemingly called for the Government to finance the venture through the issuance of $24.5 million in bonds. The Government was also to advance a $2.45 million interest payment to cover acquisition and other 'soft' costs related to the project.

Two of BFG's three named directors, Peter T. Carey and Julian J. Rolle, are also a Board director and senior management executive, respectively, at Mr Cooper's BAF Financial.

Meanwhile, after failing to get their proposal on the FNM's pre-election agenda, Mr Robinson said they were eventually granted an audience with Mr Campbell, the new minister of transport.

"We were able to put in a short presentation relating to the inspection, and gave them an opportunity to re-look at the plates and technology involved that would assist the crime fight," he told Tribune Business.

"He [Mr Campbell] accepted the proposal, but we never got an acknowledgement or receipt, or any follow-up."