Accountant General Curtis Stovell said his role in waiving the three-bid process for Government projects required by Financial Instructions should not be handled by him and that it should be the responsibility of the Office of Project Management and Procurement (OPMP).

But Mr Stovell explained that the OPMP’s Code of Practice for Project Management and Procurement to be issued by the director of the OPMP has not yet been issued.

He made the comments towards the end of more than two hours in front of the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday afternoon, where he was grilled on his decision to allow Government to bypass the bidding process in respect to a memorandum of understanding with Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) to facilitate the redevelopment of the Bermuda airport.

The Accountant General said: “I’m the only one that can issue this waiver.”

He explained: “The Act provides for oversight for all of this under that office (OPMP).” However, he added: “The requirement was that the director of OPMP shall issue a code of practice.” He said that was in 2011. “It was never enacted, and if it had been I wouldn’t sitting in front of you today, because you need experts and resources to dedicate to this.”

Mr Stovell said the responsibilities should be moved to an entity that can give them “the time and attention they deserve”.

He said: “I’ve been in this seat since April. In nine months I’ve had 50 requests to waive permission to advertise [projects], which is one of the reasons this office [OPMP] was created.”

He said any project that was projected to cost more than $5,000 required three quotes.

“We just need to finish what we started,” he said. “You can’t sneeze for $5,000. I get these e-mails every day.”

Earlier in the meeting, Mr Stovell had explained: “I have to make decisions on the trot with the information I have.”

The Accountant General also expressed concern about the ability of the airport to derive enough revenue to sustain any debt incurred for its redevelopment. While he said the Ministry of Finance did not have to come back to him in regard to a “no/go decision on a contract with CCC”, he said that he expected to be involved in the discussions.