Eliminated bidder insists it should compete

A consortium eliminated from the tender adjudication process in connection with cleaning services at the new hospital yesterday insisted it should be allowed to bid for the contract or else the process should be halted.

The consortium, Servizzi Malta, claimed that the only remaining bidder, that also consisted of a group of companies, should have also been eliminated from the tendering process because one of its component companies was not qualified to bid in the first place.

Last month, Servizzi Malta - composed of Bad Boy Cleaning Services Ltd, Euro Hygene International Ltd, MCCS Co. Ltd and Coopservice S Coop SA - filed an application for a warrant of prohibitory injunction against the Director of Contracts.

The request was provisionally upheld by Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro who yesterday heard evidence and submissions in the case and put the hearing off to August 14 for a final ruling.

Servizzi Malta is calling on the court to stop the director from continuing with the adjudication process in connection with the award of the contract for cleaning services at Mater Dei Hospital.

According to the consortium, represented by lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona, they had been excluded from the tender process because one of the four bid bonds they had submitted in terms of the tender lacked, by five days, a sufficiently long validity period.

It said the discrepancy amounted to less than 0.5 per cent and so could not affect the validity of the bid bond.

Dr Borg Cardona noted that his clients had informed the Director of Contracts that the only remaining bidder did not qualify to bid because one of its component companies did not have the requirements according to the memorandum of articles. This constituted a larger discrepancy than his clients' 0.5 per cent, and therefore the remaining bidder should have been eliminated from the tender adjudication process.

He argued that if the remaining bidder's proposal was still deemed acceptable, then so should that of his clients. Alternatively, the proceedings should be halted as his clients were suffering irremediable damages by not being allowed to compete.

Lawyer Susan Scicluna, who represented the Director of Contracts, said this was a three-package tender in three phases and Servizzi Malta had been eliminated in the first phase because of the bid bond. This meant it was not ruled out that the other bidder might be excluded at a further stage.

Dr Scicluna added that this was a project worth Lm1 million and if the process were stopped it would mean the hospital would not be cleaned. Therefore, the prejudice suffered by her client was far greater than that suffered by Servizzi Malta.