"Not the normal process," PS concedes regarding Market Me contracts

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health & Wellness, Dunstan Bryan, has conceded that his ministry's decision to engage Market Me for the Jamaica Moves campaign, using the direct contracting method of procurement was unusual.

The Ministry has explained that Market Me was contracted in 2016 after it made an unsolicited proposal. Another contract to continue the project was issued in 2019.

It has come to light however that the concept for the Jamaica Moves programme had been developed by the ministry in 2013 and was not a unique idea proposed by Market Me.

While saying he would not apply the suggested term “aberration” to the how the contract was awarded to Market Me, Mr. Bryan conceded to Beyond the Headlines host Dionne Jackson Miller that it was “not the normal process through which the government would undertake activities relating to its programmes.”

The two contracts to Market Me totalled more than $54 million.