A controversial €880,000 direct order the Auditor General has been asked to investigate was approved by the Finance Ministry, a spokesman confirmed.
The direct order was given to Infinite Fusion Technologies by the Home Affairs Ministry for the upgrading of IT networks at the Corradino Correctional Facility.
Questioned why the direct order was approved, the Finance Ministry spokesman cited public procurement rules, which, he noted, gave leeway to public authorities to grant such contracts to a company in certain circumstances.
Such direct orders could be granted “for technical or artistic reasons or for reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights”, he said.
Another direct order worth €35,000 was given to the same company by the Home Affairs Ministry to provide interrogation recording equipment in eight police stations. The spokesman said this too had been approved, on the basis of “extreme urgency”.
The Auditor General said in his last annual report that direct orders should be kept to the “barest minimum”, in line with public procurement regulations.
All direct orders that circumnavigate the need for a public call for tenders require the Finance Ministry’s blessing.
The direct orders in question were criticised by shadow minister Jason Azzopardi who said the company should have been excluded from public tenders because the last time it filed audited financial statements was in 2012.
This meant, he continued, that the company would not have been in a position to pay settlement tax since then, which should have seen its exclusion from public contracts.
Dr Azzopardi also said in Parliament this week the company had no experience in the IT field and did even have a website or Facebook page.
He added that the cabling for sensitive systems within the CCF was normally housed inside the walls, yet, the successful bidder had chosen to surface-mount the cables in galvanised steel trunking. This, Dr Azzopardi insisted, put equipment at a greater risk of tampering.
Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela pledged he would cooperate fully with the Auditor General.
He said GO plc had, for many years, provided integrated tele-communications services to CCF.
In 2015, a report recommended that the ministry urgently upgrade the IT services and CCTV systems.
GO used to subcontract its prison IT services but, some time ago, it informed the authorities it would not be able to continue because of bigger contracts it had in hand, Mr Abela said.