Firm files protest over contract for medical equipment

A foreign company yesterday called on the authorities not to conclude any contract for the provision of medical equipment and other similar items for the new hospital with a rival company because it suspected that they were not adhering scrupulously to the tender process.

Hospitalia International GmbH, represented locally by Alfred Mangion, filed a judicial protest in the Civil Court against the prime minister, the director of contracts, the foundation for medical services, the finance ministry and the attorney general.

Hospitalia declared that it was one of the foremost in the world in the provision of medical equipment and ancillary items and it had submitted an offer following a call for applications for the provision and installation of medical equipment and furniture for the new hospital.

After the tenders were opened, it resulted that only that submitted by Hospitalia International had been published and therefore this company's rights had been seriously prejudiced from the very start of the adjudication process, for it had no similar right of access to the tenders submitted by its competitors.

Hospitalia submitted that it had reason to suspect that respondents had communicated with another tendering company, namely the Italian company Inso, to discuss with it certain aspects of its tender.

Thus, respondents were illegally violating the conditions of the tender documents.

Hospitalia said it had felt constrained to write to the authorities to request assurance that they were scrupulously adhering to the tender process but no such assurance was forthcoming.

On September 6, Hospitalia International had again written to the authorities claiming that Inso had communicated with suppliers of medical equipment and medical furniture but had not done this prior to submitting its tender.

This was another violation of the tender conditions, Hospitalia claimed.

Hospitalia International yesterday declared that it had reason to suspect that authorities wished to conclude negotiations with Inso and that this would obviously cause it to sustain damages.

Dr Albert Grech signed the protest.