One caterer won the bid to provide food services for the hospitality aspect during the T20 World Cup Cricket matches that will be played here.
Dr Kishore Shallow, President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) cleared the air on the matter after several local caterers and chefs expressed outrage over the awarding of a contract to one local entity.
According to Shallow, while speaking on BOOM radio on June 5, the facts were that 10 caterers would be involved in providing food and beverage during the scheduled T20 World Cup games that will be played here.
And this number was consistent with the number of caterers that won bids in the other venues throughout the Caribbean.
Seven caterers were being used in Guyana, 8 in Trinidad, 10 in Barbados, 9 in St Lucia, 7 in Antigua and 10 here in St Vincent.
The WICB President explained that caterers were contacted and asked to submit proposals.
“In fact, there was a request to actually tour the kitchens of these service providers and tasting was also suggested,” Shallow explained.
There were those who declined, and that was absolutely okay, he added.
Regarding the hospitality aspect, Shallow said that 6 caterers were shortlisted – two initially pulled out saying that the job was out of their depth and two did not submit quotes and were disqualified.
Of the remaining two, one caterer won the bid.
And one caterer was sufficient for the job, Shallow said.
He explained that in some of the other venues, multiple caterers were selected to provide services for hospitality.
“But in the case of St Vincent and the Grenadines, we have limited boxes, so the hospitality boxes as you know, the boxes are upstairs the Frank Thomas Stand…and then you have the President’s suite so we do not have the numbers like let’s say Trinidad or Barbados,” Shallow explained.
Then there was the issue of accreditation and the actual kitchen space, according to Shallow there was insufficient kitchen space for more than one caterer to operate.
“So, there was rationale for what took place,” he added.
According to the WICB President, the decisions made regarding the procurement and recruitment must be able to withstand scrutiny.
“And I am quite confident that the process for recruiting catering in St Vincent and the Grenadines and similar to other countries, the process was very comprehensive and one that could withstand scrutiny,” he said.