Unsuccessful Israeli bidder demands halt to contract award

Bateman Litwin, the Israeli company whose bid for an extension to the power station was rejected, yesterday filed a judicial protest calling on the government, Enemalta and the Director of Contracts not to award the contract to preferred bidder BWSC.

Bateman insisted that its equipment, which operated on diesel or gas, was the cheapest, its technology was the cleanest and the unit cost of electricity from its plant when using gas would be the lowest.

It said the rival bid was considerably more expensive both with regard to capital costs and in terms of the cost for its eventual conversion from heavy fuel oil to gas. Although diesel fuel was more expensive when compared to heavy fuel oil, the latter was the most polluting fossil fuel, the firm said.

Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt explained last week that BWSC, a Scandinavian company, which was awarded the contract for the major extension of the Delimara power station, had the most advantageous offer on all counts.

Bateman wrote to the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee insisting its offer was cheaper and more advantageous and Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat published the letter two weeks ago after the issue was raised in the media.

The extension to the Delimara power station, which will be completed by the end of 2011, is aimed at replacing the Marsa plant, which is being decommissioned.

Dr Gatt said that the evaluation took into consideration the technical and financial aspects. From the technical side, Bateman came first of three bidders but, in the financial part, which carried 75 per cent of the points, it placed last.

In its protest, Bateman rejected claims that the rival plant's unit costs would be lower, arguing that the cost per kilowatt hour was 15 per cent cheaper in a gas-operated power station when compared to one that used heavy fuel oil, of which a greater volume was needed.

The only comparison the Enemalta consultants had made was between power stations that operated on heavy fuel oil and on diesel, the company said.

Bateman also insisted that its plant would take up considerably less space at Delimara and produce fewer emissions.

The company said the tendering process had lacked equality and fair play and an internal e-mail sent by the adjudicating committee head to other Enemalta officials showed that, in November last year, Enemalta had already decided to reject its bid. Bateman said that when it drew attention to this e-mail, which it had received by mistake, it was included in the short-list.

The company said that although the rival bid would produce 90 tons of waste every day, including toxic waste, no environment impact assessment had been made and the Maltese people were kept in the dark on what was going on.

The company called on the authorities not to award the tender to BWSC and to conduct a proper analysis of the offers made by the bidders.