The Management of the Commission awarded contract to Messrs. Ribon Resources Nig Ltd on May 31, 2012 for the construction of NDDC Delta state office building project, Warri, phase 1 at the contract sum of N421,921,233.40. It was observed that there was no open competitive bidding in the selection and award of this contract. Thus, it violates PPA 2007 and Financial Regulations No 2921 which states that “all procurements of goods, works and services shall be by way of Open Competitive Bidding by which is meant that all contractors/ suppliers shall be subjected to the same level playing ground. The format for submission of bids, the deadline for submission and the pre-determined criteria for evaluation shall not vary from one contractor/ supplier to the other; they shall be the same”.
Examination revealed a total payment of N115,279,144.86 to the contractor on a milestone achievement on Interim Payment Certificate No 1. Audit inspection visit revealed that the building project has since stopped, and site abandoned when the construction was just at the first floor level for no justification. This means that the Commission did not derive any value for the sum of N115,279,144.86 spent so far on the building because when the integrity of the structure erected so far may be compromised after long years of abandonment and thereby needed to be removed before a new structure can be built.

Risk
Loss of public fund: There is a risk of loss of funds already paid, as the building may become obsolete and lose its integrity test due to its abandonment.

Recommendations
The management is required to justify the basis (if any) for non-compliance with due process in the award of the contract, failure of which appropriate sanctions would be applied.
The contractor should be advised to return to site, otherwise the payment of ₦115,279,144.86 or 27.32% of contract sum should be recovered from him and evidence of recovery forwarded to the Office of the Auditor-General for Federation for confirmation.