The deadline for a public tender issued by the Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure was extended by an hour just a few minutes before closing time, the Times of Malta is informed.
When contacted, a spokeswoman refrained from giving any details but said that “the ministry is looking into the matter”.
The tender for the supply and delivery of hydraulic, engine and transmission oils was issued last month. According to the original tender documents, bidders were to submit their offers by last Tuesday at 9.30am.
However, this newspaper was told, as they were making their finishing touches to their submission, prospective bidders were informed that the closing deadline had been extended by an hour.
I have never seen anything of this sort
“This is really not fair, because we had been preparing all the necessary documentation for this tender for weeks and we even worked during the night to make sure everything was completed on time by Tuesday morning,” an angry official of one of the bidding companies said.
“I’ve been working on tenders all my life and I have never seen anything of this sort,” he said. “Something is very wrong in this county. I cannot even imagine why the tender closing time was extended by just an hour,” he added.
Another tenderer said the extension was “unprecedented”. “Those accustomed to government tenders know it is normal that such tenders usually close at 9.30 am. It was only in this case that an extension of an hour happened,” he said.
Questions sent to the Transport Ministry about what had necessitated the extension, who the tenderers were and when they had deposited their documents remained unanswered, with the spokeswoman only saying the matter was being looked into.
Unofficial information reaching this newspaper indicated that eight submissions were received by the ministry. These were from Go Fuels, Joem Autoparts, VRT Services, Sambro Service Station, Palm Shipping, Falzon Fuel, Cassar Fuel and Mizzi Automotive.
The winning bidder will supply oils and lubricants to the Manufacturing and Services Directorate, better known as the government garage, until 2018.
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com