A €356,000 tender for consultancy services for the establishment of a digital hub in Gozo was awarded to a consortium whose members cannot be identified.

Gozo Connect won the contract to determine the technical and financial feasibility for the implementation of a digital hub.

Yet efforts to identify the companies involved in the bidding consortium yielded no results.

Checks with the Malta Financial Services Authority confirmed there was no company registered in that name.

This newspaper was referred to the government’s Commerce Department, also known as the Trade Department, but was told no assistance could be given because records were based on personal details.

The names of those who make up the consortium are not for public knowledge

When Times of Malta contacted the Department of Contracts, which awarded the tender, it was told the department was not obliged to reveal the information of the companies involved.

“We are only obliged to provide the name under which the tender was submitted. The names of those who make up the consortium or joint venture or partnership are not for public knowledge. It is commercial knowledge we are not obliged to divulge,” the department said.

Times of Malta pointed out that without this information it was not possible for members of the public or business community to scrutinise the decision.

Any consortium could create a different name for different tenders without competitors knowing who was behind the competing partnership.

The department said a formal request could be sent to the Director General for consideration but pointed out again that the department was not obliged to comply with it.

“The companies comprising the partnership would have been evaluated by the evaluation committee,” the department said, while insisting scrutiny of that decision was not possible.

The tender was published on June 20, with a closing date set for just over a month later. A decision on the bidders was taken on October 16. The term on which the contract was awarded was the cheapest offer, according the Department of Contracts.

Calls made to the Gozo Ministry and the Office of the Prime Minister in an attempt to identify the companies behind the consultancy contract were not answered by the time of going to print.