A multi-million roads contract which was cancelled last year has been awarded to a company that submitted a non-compliant bid.
The company, RM Construction Ltd, will also be paid nearly €2 million more for the job than the €13.5 million it had quoted a year ago. The contract is for an underpass at the Tarxien-Santa Lucija roundabout.
Infrastructure Malta and the Department of Contracts failed to explain why the tender had not been re-issued after being cancelled by the Public Contracts Review Board.
They said the Department of Contracts, on Finance Ministry approval, had decided to use the “negotiated procedure” clause in the Public Procurement Regulations. This allows a cancelled tender to be re-negotiated with those who had submitted bids.
A senior government source said this was the largest tender to be awarded through the negotiated procedure in recent years following cancellation. He expressed doubts over whether this was the right application of the rules.
The tender was issued by Infrastructure Malta in March last year.
Six bids were received and the evaluation committee, chaired by Infrastructure Malta employee engineer Robert Schembri, awarded the tender to the lowest bidder at €13.5 million, RM Construction Ltd. This is a joint venture between Asfaltar Ltd, Bonnici Brothers Ltd and Schembri Infrastructure Ltd.
A week later the director of contracts was informed that RM had proposed a lower grade of concrete than that stipulated in the tender as well as omitting a central wall, an important part of the structure. In view of these shortcomings, the director cancelled the award.
RM appealed to the contracts review board. It emerged that the evaluation committee had relied on declarations about specifications made by the bidder and failed to carry out its own assessment as required.
The board said the committee “appeared” to have overlooked the fact that the successful bid was not up to the requested standards and it upheld the decision to disqualify the bidder and cancel the tender.
Once a tender of such high value, which also includes EU funds, is cancelled, a fresh call open to all is normally made.
However, the government decided to use a legal procedure to start restricted negotiations with the original six bidders.
Then, last month, the Department of Contracts announced it would be awarding the tender to RM for €15.3 million
Avoiding the question of why the multi-million tender was not issued afresh, both Infrastructure Malta and the department insisted the procedure was legal.
“The PCRB’s decision was to uphold Infrastructure Malta’s decision to cancel the tender but did not enter into the merits of the process to be followed,” contracts department director general Anthony Cachia said, adding that Public Procurement regulations allow for the negotiated procedure.
A spokesman for Infrastructure Malta said the negotiated procedure was “a competitive process open to the six original bidders” and that the latest decision was still open to appeal.