The government has denied claims of irregularity in an ICT education tender, saying this had not yet been awarded.

This morning, the Labour Party's spokesman for education said It seemed there were serious irregularities in the choice of companies to provide training courses leading to a diploma in information technology, funded by the European Social Fund.

He said that the contract cost 750,000 euros and all the selected companies had to be able to organise three different courses for diplomas in information technology, information systems and information systems and computing.

Companies that were not able to offer these three courses or which said they would be offering only two courses had to be disqualified. But all companies qualified for the contract, including those which breached the conditions.

Those which submitted offers included companies that were offering very poor content and others that were offering the same content for the different courses.

Mr Bartolo said that from before the technical evaluation of the course content offered by the different companies, it was clear that the preferred company was administered by a person who enjoyed IT Minister Austin Gatt's confidence.

The minister was responsible for Malta Information Technology Agency, which issued the call.

But the ministry said in a statement this evening that the tender about which Mr Bartolo was commenting had not been given and the report about it had not yet been concluded.

Mr Bartolo, the ministry said, was trying to hinder the transparent process that was currently underway.

The first and second phases of the adjudication process had been concluded but the tender had not yet been awarded.

So the allegations made by Mr Bartolo were unfounded and premature and aimed at influencing the selection board for or against particular tenderers.

Mr Bartolo’s behaviour was illegal and against all ethics because tendering processes in Malta were regulated by law and those who suspected this had not been observed had the right to appeal.

But Mr Bartolo chose to be the prosecutor, judge and Court of Appeal instead, a role he did not deserve, the ministry said.