A decision by the Education Minister to ignore recommendations by the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools’ management meant a tiling contractor was paid almost twice the value of works, according to an internal report.
The technical report shows while Avantgarde Projects Ltd was owed €540,000 for works at St Ignatius College in Qormi, it ended up receiving more than €1 million.
The report, drawn up by the FTS management after the Education Ministry insisted on finding an “out of court solution”, clearly recommended that no claims by the contractor should be upheld.
It suggested that, should the contractor persist in his claims, an independent surveyor be engaged to re-measure all the works carried out. However, this was not done, because the contractor disagreed.
Noting that “the contract was characterised with financial difficulties encountered by the contractor that have jeopardised the timely completion of the project”, the report indicates that the contractor billed the FTS for quantities of tiles and marble that had not been certified, charged rates well above those stipulated in the original contract and supplied materials not requested by the FTS.
Noting that, according to government procurement rules, “contracts shall be at fixed prices which shall not be revised” and that “changes to prices as claimed by the contractor cannot be acceded to”, the internal report says that Avantgarde still charged rates significantly higher than those in the tender document and claimed payment for material which, according to the FTS, was never supplied.
Listing examples, which, it noted, were backed by detailed documentation, the report notes that although, according to the tender, a mosaic should have cost €40 per metre squared, “the contractor charged a rate of €93.55 per metre squared”.
“A further claim of 48 [square] metres of mosaic at yet another price of €70 was made by the contractor but these items have never been delivered, nor installed,” it adds.
Referring to other claims where the contractor tried to justify charges by stating he could not use membrane as specified in the tender and instead resorted to liquid membrane, the report notes that “[FTS] never instructed that liquid membrane should be used. In any case, rate quoted is unreasonably high since ongoing rate is €7.95 as against the charged rate of €30.28”.
The report gives a detailed breakdown of the warnings the contractor was given in writing and points out that the FTS had obtained permission to cancel the contract. However, this was never done.
“In the circumstances, the claim by the contractor comes as a surprise, since we have enough cause to charge penalties for delays in terms of the contract,” the ministry was told.
Despite the report and the FTS’s resistance to upholding Avantgarde’s claims, in October 2015, Mr Bartolo approved a recommendation by his permanent secretary, Joseph Caruana, to “close the litigation”. The minister instructed the FTS to pay Avantgarde €418,000 above the value of the original tender.
The claim by the contractor comes as a surprise since we have enough cause to charge penalties for delays in terms of the contract
FTS sources have told the Times of Malta that Edward Caruana, a former senior FTS official hired by Mr Bartolo on a person-of-trust basis, met the contractor, Joseph Vella, soon after Labour’s return to power in March 2013 to try to find a solution.
Mr Bartolo was this week asked whether he too had met Mr Vella about the matter, but no reply was forthcoming.
He is insisting that he had acted to solve a problem that was caused under the previous administration.
Edward Caruana, who is the permanent secretary’s brother, is currently under police investigation over separate claims of fraud and corruption.
Payments were only for work done – contractor
The contractors engaged to do tiling works at St Ignatius College in Qormi denied it had been paid for works that had not been carried out.
Avantgarde Projects Ltd stated its denial last night, referring to a report that appeared on The Sunday Times of Malta entitled ‘Evarist Bartolo ordered payment for “irregular” schools works’.
It said that after winning a public tender for works at the Qormi school in late 2011, it had been asked to carry out additional jobs that had not been contemplated in the contract.
Avantgarde said it had difficulties completing what it had been asked to do when, in August 2012, the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools stopped all payments and failed to hand over substantial parts of the site so the works could be finished on time. This, it added, made it incur additional expenses.
Once the works were done, the company said it submitted the bill for the works done, including variations and additional jobs that were not listed in the contract. However, the FTS refused to pay without explaining, Avantgarde said.
The company then decided to give the FTS a dossier containing all the facts and listing all the works done and the expenses due. Copies were also submitted to then education minister Dolores Cristina and the director of contracts. This occurred prior to the 2013 election. The same dossier was given to the present Education Minister, Evarist Bartolo, after the last election.
“The sum that FTS paid Avantgarde Projects Ltd in November 2015 was much lower than that claimed by Avantgarde Projects Ltd. When FTS tabled its offer, years after all the works were completed, Avantgarde Projects Ltd accepted the payment as a compromise, also to avoid going through long years of court proceedings and to honour the financial obligations it had undertaken when accepting to carry out the project,” it said in the statement signed by managing director Joe Vella.
St Ignatius College in Qormi, where Avantgarde Projects Ltd was contracted to do extensive tiling and marble works.