Archive for October 27th, 2008
Chopper no good says AG
(CNS): Miscommunication, poor documentation and rushed decisions seem to be at the root of the police helicopter fiasco according to a report for the Auditor General’s (AG) office. Following Cabinet’s accusation that the Police Commissioner had misled them over the capabilities of the helicopter and his subsequent denials, Dan Duguay (AG) has said that he was unable to find enough documentation to point fingers but that the helicopter certainly falls short of needs.
However, Duguay has suggested, given that the helicopter was purchased at a price well below its market value if it was to be sold it is likely that the vast majority of costs so far incurred could be recovered. “Evidence presented to me seems to indicate that the helicopter can be sold for most of the funds that have been expended to date on it,” he said in his report. “In other words there seems a good chance that our financial loss may not be significant."
Duguay notes, that the biggest loss is the time already spent acquiring the machine and believes that had more research been undertaken at the start of the project into the details regarding the full requirements of the helicopter and its specific operational capabilities, as well as greater documentation kept throughout the process, things may not have reached this stage.
The AG states that the helicopter purchased does have severe limitations with regards the expectations of Cabinet though not necessarily for law enforcement which is where he believes the communication problems lay. In his report he says that the Commissioner of the Royal Cayman islands Police Service (RCIPS) Stuart Kernohan had specific law enforcement activities in mind when procuring the helicopter which would not necessarily require Instrument Flight Rules capabilities (IFR) as most police operations would require clear visuals to seek out the criminals, consequently Visual Flight Rules (VFR) would have been sufficient. However, as far as Cabinet was concerned any helicopter that was purchased was expected to be capable of engaging in emergency operations and search rescue as well as law enforcement which would require (IFR).
Although Kernohan is currently in the UK as he is suspended from duty as a result of Operation Tempura, Duguay confirms that he discussed the report extensively with Kernohan who believes that the Cabinet was well aware that the helicopter would operate under VFR and not IFR. Duguay notes however, a lack of documentation regarding important meetings between Cabinet and Kernohan and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands (CAAof CI) and Kernohan.
He states that from the very beginning the RCIPS failed to produce a documented needs analysis and that the closest thing to a needs analysis is a Cabinet paper dated 23 November 2006 that defines the government’s expectations which includes emergency evacuations as well as police and border patrol needs. Moreover, Duguay suggests that Kernohan did not appear to define his position to government or the CAA hence the miscommunication.
The AG describes the drive to purchase the helicopter as rushed, although it was clearly good value and more importantly the only one to come on the market for a considerable period. Duguay concludes that even though the commissioner was aware of certain problems relating to IRF, flotation devices and the autopilot, he was unable to confirm if the commissioner (as he asserts) related these problems to the Cabinet or the CAA as there was no supporting documentation for the various meetings that took place between the parties during the procurement process and the refit.
“What was discussed at those meetings is unclear as there were no verbatim minutes of items discussed,” Duguay states in his report and says that he would have thought that Cabinet papers would have been produced for such important meetings.
He says a consultant should have been hired before the purchase rather than after and Duguay states that if the helicopter, currently in Louisiana, is to be sold and the process started again he cites the importance of engaging an expert consultant.
While the AG acknowledges he is no helicopter expert he noted that during the production of the report he learned a number of things and points out that experts note that the list of requirements for this helicopter seem exceptionally wide and that asking for one machine to have such a diverse capability may well be outside the government budget.