A Health Ministry tender for the provision of 68 pharmaceutical products from a single supplier was “suspended indefinitely” amid protests by importers, this newspaper has learnt.

“The offer seemed to be tailor-made for a foreign supplier as very few if any of the local agents would have been able to procure such a massive amount of pharmaceuticals at one go,” an irate medicine importer told this newspaper.

The tender was issued late last year by the Contracts Department, and the submission period for bidders interested in the “supply of high volume pharmaceuticals” was repeatedly extended until April 21. Then, days before the expiry of the deadline, interested members of the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry were notified that the tender had been “suspended indefinitely”.

Questions sent to the (then) Parliamentary Secretariat for Health about the reason behind this decision and whether the government would be issuing a fresh call for tenders for each pro-duct previously grouped together remained unanswered at the time of writing.

The offer seemed to be tailor-made for a foreign supplier

A chamber spokesman told the Times of Malta their members had “unanimously” objected to the tender on the basis that it would have “eliminated” the participation of Maltese small and medium enterprises in State procurement.

“The government took heed of our representations and suspended the tender indefinitely. Discussions will be held in the near future on the way forward,” the spokesman said.

Local agents, who preferred to remain anonymous, told this newspaper this was the first time such a large batch of medicinal products had been grouped in a single tender.

“The decision raised eyebrows because, until then, the government used to issue an offer for individual products and chose the best bids from among local suppliers and other bidders,” they said.

“While some might argue it would be cheaper for the government to buy large quantities from the same supplier, in Malta’s case this could be counterproductive, as it would greatly limit participation and, possibly, give rise to a cartel,” the same agents noted.

Though the Health Ministry refused to comment on the matter, sources said the government’s reaction to the criticism was to urge importers to join forces and form a consortium. This option, however, was deemed a “non-starter” by local agents, due to harsh competition to secure the best brands on the market.