The Government has defended its G$245 million purchase of 1,000 pregnant heifers from Brazil by insisting the contract was awarded through a competitive procurement process. Yet the most basic evidence of that process—the public tender advertisement and supporting procurement records—remains absent from the public domain, fuelling fresh questions about transparency and accountability.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) awarded the contract to Brazilian company Cooaperr Agri Supply Inc. after receiving four bids—one local and three international. The Ministry has stated that the contract was awarded at G$245,000 per pregnant heifer as part of the Government’s National Herd Expansion Programme, an initiative intended to increase Guyana’s beef and dairy production.

However, questions have emerged over the identity of the entity that ultimately supplied the cattle. While the Government says the contract was awarded to the Brazilian company Coopera, information circulating publicly suggests that a company with a similar name, reportedly incorporated in Guyana earlier this year and whose board includes Brazilian nationals, may have been involved in supplying the animals.