Transport Malta’s purchase of five rigid hull inflatable boats at a cost of €721,000 has come under the spotlight, with a National Audit Office review flagging a series of failures in their procurement.

Among other problems, the audit found that a single person was responsible for the entirety of the project, resulting in “insufficient oversight”, and that there was no evidence of any market research being carried out when calculating the project’s cost.

The auditor’s report also casts doubt on the evaluation process, highlighting that 13 bids were evaluated in a single day, with virtually no documentation about the bids’ technical and financial compliance available.

The winning bids, both of them the cheapest offers received, were significantly less than the costs estimated in the tender itself, and far cheaper than all other bids received, a discrepancy that the auditor describes as a “red flag”.

Transport Malta failed to carry out routine inspections of the boats while they were being assembled, with only a single visit to the boat builder recorded, despite the builder being granted several extensions to complete the works.

This visit revealed that the “supposedly complete RHIB was a bare boat with no apparent fixtures at all”, much to the project manager’s surprise.

The boats were eventually received in April 2021, with independent checks later revealing that all five had “several defects of major significance”.

As of June 2023, none of the boats were deemed to be fully compliant, with only three of them considered to be “fit for the intended use” and currently in use.

The project’s failure led to “significant reputational damage triggered by negative media coverage”, the auditor noted.

PN calls for action

The Nationalist Party has called for action over the NAO’s findings, insisting that someone had to be held accountable.

"The bad management of this tender emerges clearly from this tender and continues to result in a lack of efficiency for the enforcement sector that doesn't have enough resources to do their job," the PN said.

It said the Auditor General's report clearly states that the five RHIBs had several significant defects.

The NAO said that the project was led by one person, and that the lack of involvement of other team members led to insufficient oversight and inadequate risk management and also weak internal controls in all phases of the acquisition.

"The PN wants to know what action will be taken by the ministry," PN MPs Ivan Castillo and Darren Carabott said in their statement.

TM says supplier was not paid 

In a statement, Transport Malta acknowledged the auditor’s findings, saying that it is “committed to strengthening its internal procedures”.

The authority said that no payment for the purchase of the boats was made, to “safeguard the public interest and the use of public funds”.