Updated March 29
Health Minister Chris Fearne has shot down allegations that a local firm was preparing a bid to build a prefabricated hospital weeks before the call for tender was issued.
Speaking on Saturday, Fearne said he was informed that the company in question, TEC Ltd, had not bid for the project to build the field hospital and had denied claims made by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi.
Azzopardi had alleged that TEC Ltd had contacted a German firm, Roder, for a quotation to build such a hospital two weeks ago. The international call to build the hospital was only published last Monday.
Following the allegation, Fearne had suspended bidding and called for an administrative review of the process.
On Saturday, Fearne said that the review was still ongoing and that he awaited its results.
The minister however expressed scepticism about the claims, saying he had had received "a note" from the company in question.
“They are not only denying that they knew [about the project] beforehand, but also saying that they didn’t even bid [for the project],” the minister said.
"These allegations are completely unfounded," Fearne said, adding however that the review would continue.
Azzopardi later wrote in reply that while he admired Fearne's personal integrity, the minister "should not be satisfied simply because he received an assuring “note” from the interested party".
The PN MP went on to list a series of questions related to the call for tender and investigation into it, adding two images indicating that 22 bids to build the hospital, ranging in cost from €3.99m to €29m, had been submitted.
According to the international call to build the hospital facility, bidders must be able to supply and build a medical facility with 60 hospital beds and 24 intensive care beds within eight weeks.
The government is keen to buy, rather than rent, the facility, saying it intends to dismantle and store it once the coronavirus pandemic is over.
Critics have raised questions about the possibility of the hospital being built in the current global scenario, given that international borders are shut and many countries are vetoing the export of medical equipment and supplies.
Health authorities have however dismissed those concerns, saying they are well aware of restrictions but that the winning bidder would have to “set up its own logistics in order to find a secure route through which it can guarantee the setup, installation, testing and commissioning within the stipulated timeframe.”
According to the call for tender, the winning bidder will be fined €50,000 for every day the hospital construction project overruns its eight-week timeframe.