No control on standard of uniforms being sold by alternative suppliers

The education authorities do not have a mechanism in place to ensure that state school uniforms sold by shops other than the one contracted by the government are up to standard despite their insistence that any retailer can make such sales.

If the tender-winning company, Yorkie Clothing, produced a faulty uniform, the government could ask the firm to change it due to contractual obligations, a spokesman for the Education Ministry said. However, if a damaged uniform was bought from another shop the government had no power to do the same, which meant parents would have to take the issue up through the normal consumer complaint channels.

Gozo College principal Frank Gatt told heads of school last week that uniforms for Year 1 pupils would be distributed by Yorkie Clothing, which won the contract to supply them to the college, and “there are no other distributors, until further notice”. He instructed heads to warn parents that those who were buying their children’s uniform from other outlets were doing so at their “risk and peril”.

When contacted, he elaborated that, while he was all in favour of competition, he was concerned about the quality of the uniforms if bought from another outlet over which the government had no control. His instructions to heads seemed at odds with the policy of the education authorities, which say there is no exclusivity in the supply of school uniforms. The Education Ministry had said that although Yorkie had won the contract to supply state colleges “nothing stops any other retailer from producing such uniforms and selling them”. The statement came after the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority called for more choice in the supply of uniforms, saying parents were being left in a vulnerable position partly as a result of exclusive arrangements and restricted competition.

Alex Calleja, of Yorkie Clothing, said he had no problem with other retailers selling school uniforms, provided they adhered to the same financial and garment quality guarantees he had provided in his successful tender.

Asked if the government had checks in place to ensure other shops adhered to quality standards, an Education Ministry spokesman said: “It is in the parents’ interest to see that they get good quality for the money they are paying.

“If a uniform produced by the contractor who won the tender to supply uniforms is defective or not up to standard according to the tender specifications, the contractor will be asked to provide another uniform. We had a few such cases in the past... Retailers are obliged by law to give the best service to their clients and offer quality products while consumers have rights that protect their interests,” he said.

So, given this scenario, what was the point of going out to tender in the first place? The reason given was that it was strict government financial policy to issue a call for tenders for high-value contracts.