Report Filed:9:59:47 pm-04 September 2007

BU highlighted the extraordinary announcement by 3S — the company contracted to build the Flyovers states the cost of the project must increase significantly because of unforeseen circumstances. In summary, the scope of work has had to be increased and therefore there is a new cost estimated at BDS360 million dollars. When one considers that Barbadians were told the project would cost BDS120 million dollars, even with a 25% overrun no one in their wildest dream would have thought the final cost would rest at BDS360 million.

The announcement has caused sensible Barbadians to raise questions about the project and specifically the competence of 3S.

What we know about 3S

The truth is we don’t know much. Many Barbadians have been surfing the Internet with little success to find info on the company. On this website we found this sketchy profile:

3s Structural Steel Solutions, Llc

10015 Old Columbia Rd, Columbia, MD 21046-1703, United States (Map) (Add Company Info)

Phone: (410) 312-7882

SIC: Communications Equipment, NEC

Line of Business: Mfg Communications Equipment

Detailed 3s Structural Steel Solutions, Llc Company Profile

This company profile is for the private company 3s Structural Steel Solutions, Llc, located in Columbia, MD. 3s Structural Steel Solutions, Llc’s line of business is mfg communications equipment.

Company Profile: 3s Structural Steel Solutions, Llc

Year Started: 2005

State of Incorporation: N/A

URL: N/A

Location Type: Single Location

Stock Symbol: N/A

Stock Exchange: N/A

Also Does Business As: N/A

NAICS: N/A

SIC #Code: View Details

Est. Annual Sales: View Details

Est. Employees: 5

Est. Employees at Location: 5

Contact Name: Ian Fields

Contact Title: Mbr

We are surprise at the age of the company which is listed as being established in 2005. Even more surprising was its listing of 5 employees. This immediately caused us to think that 3S would have to contract services to complete a big job like building flyovers which cost BDS360 million dollars for the Barbados government. We immediately returned to the information highway to search for such a company which would have worked with 3S on the Operation Free Flow Project.

After hours of search, we stumbled on this company, Hillis-Carnes Engineering Carnes Associates. On the surface, the company seems respectable enough and after reading a newsletter posted on the company’s website in the Fall of 2006, we spotted some information which should interest Barbadians. Here is a reproduction of the pertinent information:

The structural group and the geo-technical divisions are currently working on an extensive flyover bridge system designed to relieve traffic congestion in the southern and western sectors of a highway surrounding Bridgetown, Barbados. Our client, 3S Structural Steel Solutions, is constructing approximately 3,100 meters of elevated roadway supported on ninety-five (95) piers spaced up to thirty four (34) meters apart. HCEA team members include: Mike Johnson, P.E., Paul Eeichert, Rob Yonkers, P.E., and Avon McNeil. Rob Yonkers was in Barbados for the past several weeks monitoring the drilling operation and compiling field data necessary to complete the foundation designs that will support the piers. The data obtained during the field investigation will be input into SHAFT and LPILE programs to develop the design criteria for the drilled shafts required to support the structure. Geologically, the island of Barbados is the only emergent peak of the Barbados ridge complex.

It lies above the active subduction zone between the Caribbean and South American plates. The results from Rob’s investigation indicate that the limestone rock in this geologic region varies from competent to highly fractured and decomposed. The depths or competent rock ranged from 4 to 30 feet below existing grades. The challenge for HCEA is to design a caisson system with consistent diameters and uniform reinforcing steel bar cage configurations so that construction time and costs are minimized. HCEA is part of an international construction team that has been assembled for this high profile project. The local government is anxious to complete the project and if successful, will likely implement similar flyover systems in other sectors of the island that are prone to chronic traffic congestion problems. To Rob’s dismay, (he can’t wait to go back!) he is likely to spend additional time in Barbados on future projects.

When we read this extract, two important points stood-out; more flyovers will be coming, and the fractured and decomposed geologic make-up of the limestone of Barbados is probably the reason why the cost of the project has significant overruns. This company of engineers performed testing in the last quarter of 2006 identifying that the piers to support the flyover will have to be sunk between 4 to 30 feet based on the quality of the limestone beneath, and this is many months after the cost of the project was made known by the government.

So figure it and draw your own conclusions.

From left: President of 3S Barbados SRL, Jonathan Danos, Minister of Public Works and Transport Gline Clarke, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Clyde Mascoll in a light moment after the launch. (Pictures by Sandy Pitt)

While doing the research, we posted a question on BU asking anyone to direct us to the official website of 3S Structural Steel Solutions (3S). To our surprise, we quickly got a response from a commenter (Thanks Oops!) who directed us to this website.

This is where the story got mighty interesting.

President of 3S Barbados SRL, Jonathan Danos, along with others are being sued by his former employer, Mabey and Johnson Limited (“Mabey”) a company which is incorporated in the UK over the building of a major bridge in Jamaica, not unlike Barbados.

Not to digress too much but Barbadians were told that 3S built Flyovers in Panama. Our best research shows that Mabey and Johnson built 13 Flyovers in Panama NOT 3S – see the video

Back to our story!

To make a summary of the judgment which is referred to as The Jamaica Kickback Agreement and to make it as clear as possible we have bulleted the salient points.

1. In 2004, Mabey contracted DAG a company owned by Deryck A. Gibson to be its representative in Jamaica on the Priority Rural Bridge Project.
2. DAG’s commission was agreed at 8.5% of contract value (₤15.3)

3. DAG contracted the services of OMS Limited, a company registered in Miami, to provide technical and financial services on the project allegedly in 2004. The principals in OMS Ltd were Danos and Joyce, former employees of Mabey. Interesting to note that this alleged correspondence dated 2002 originated on the computer of Joyce.

4. The Jamaica Project was originally quoted at ₤15.3 but in the correspondence from DAG to OMS Ltd the amount increased to ₤23 million.

5. Also found on Joyce’s computer was a Payment Schedule which detailed the following: “The alleged fraud, full particulars of which are pleaded in the Particulars of Claim dated 11 January 2007, consisted of a conspiracy to inflate the level of commission and divide up the surplus between DAG and/or Mr Gibson, Mr Danos and Mr Joyce. Particular reliance is placed on a document obtained by Mabey from Mr Joyce’s laptop computer (“the Payments Schedule”) which appears to show in detail how an “increase” of £735,000 over “commission” of £565,000 was agreed to be split up in specified percentages between “DAG” (which could refer either to DAG or Mr Gibson), Mr Danos and Mr Joyce, and how the first nine payments received from Mabey up to March 2006 had been divided up pursuant to that agreement. The total shown on the Payments Schedule as due to Mr Danos and Mr Joyce down to March 2006 was £273,479.88. This figure ties in with an “invoice” (“the OMS Invoice”) also obtained from Mr Joyce’s computer, which purports to be issued by a company called OMS Limited with an address in Miami and to charge DAG for “services rendered to date” on the Jamaica Project in the same amount. The OMS Invoice appears to have been created by Mr Joyce on his computer on 28 March 2006. It says that the fees are due “in accordance with our agreement letter dated 24 July 2004”. These fees totaled ₤417,500.00.

6. This fee was divvied-up: ₤317,500 to Danos and ₤100,000 to Joyce.

7. The Court issued a freeze and search order against Danos, Joyce, DAG and Gibson in November 2006. Danos used his UK residence as security to discharge the order.

It appears that Williams Industries in Barbados is operating in the role which DAG played in the Jamaica Project.

It seems that many of our multi-million capital projects to date have been won by companies with questionable reputations.

The government of Barbados owes the country an explanation.

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