Clause in restoration works tender seen unfair

A clause in the tenders for restoration works to Valletta bastions is being seen by the Federation of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors as limiting open competition.

The clause requires contractors to have completed at least four projects on masonry interventions for a value of at least €85,000 in the past five years

The FOBC said in a statement this provision was “unfair, completely unwarranted, and imposes an unjustified limitation on open competition”.

It said there could be contractors who met the stipulated criterion but no longer had the resources or who lost most of their experienced staff to competitors while, on the other hand, there could be contractors who did not meet the stipulated criterion but who had all the resources, both in terms of machinery and experienced staff, to fulfill the job satisfactorily.

The FOBC again called for the setting up of a Contractors’ Register, which should assess and classify contractors according to their ability and their capacity to perform the work they register for.