NEWS | Wednesday, 19 November 2008

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MCAST panel revised grades to accommodate all bidders

MCAST adjudicators revised grades for bidders of a €1.8 million contract, after the Contracts Department refused their initial evaluation, which had found only one of the bidders eligible.

Matthew Vella
Over 600 students enrolled with MCAST have yet to wait for the start of their course in Information and Communications Technology, because of a controversy concerning the choice of private companies to provide them with classrooms.
MaltaToday can confirm that the panel of judges which selected just one of five bidders for the provision of the teaching centres, were asked to revise their grades and include all five bidders.
The college had to select additional teaching centres, as applicants for the course had exceeded the capacity at MCAST.
But three of the five judges revised their grades upwards by as much as 27% to ensure that all five companies get a share of the €1.8 million contract to give ICT lessons to MCAST students.
The decision to revise the grades is questionable because only Computer Domain Ltd managed to qualify, after gaining more than the required 70 points in the technical assessment made by the panel, based on an extensive checklist that included among others a valid ICT tuition licence, and premises that are fully accessible for persons with disabilities.
The four other bidders failed to make the grade.
The panel’s initial grading was allegedly refused by the Contracts Department. Subsequently the judges revised their grades again, resulting in all bidding companies receiving the required 70-point pass-mark.
Previously all companies were allocated students from MCAST, but this was the first time a tender was issued, due to EU regulations.
The award of the tender has courted controversy after Labour education spokesperson Evarist Bartolo called for an investigation into the revision of grades.
“The Prime Minister has unjustly blamed me for the fact that the course hasn’t yet started, because I called for an investigation into the abuse that happened when the selection criteria were modified in favour of companies that should have been disqualified, because they made false declarations over whether they were well equipped to provide MCAST students with training and education,” Bartolo said last week.
The panel was chaired by Juan Borg Manduca, the director of MCAST’s institute of ICT, and also a director of Malta IT and Training Services Ltd (MITTS), the government’s IT services company.
The other adjudicators were Peter Camilleri, a project manager at MCAST; Fabianne Ruggier, who formed part of the Information Society Secretariat at the Ministry for Investments Transport and Communications; and two other project managers, Rossano Cuschieri and Ray Mangion.
Borg Manduca revised his marks upwards by an average of 20.1% over his initial assessment, while Camilleri and Ruggier increased their marks by 17.6% and 27.8% respectively. Cuschieri and Mangion’s upward revisions were of 0.3% and 1.5% respectively.
According to witnesses in the hearing before the Contracts Appeals Board, the original report containing the initial grading cannot be presented because it has been allegedly misplaced.
There is however, no evidence of any justification so far for the revised grades in the second evaluation carried out by the panel.
Computer Domain has also submitted that it was the only company to be fully certified by the National Commission for Disabled People (KNPD) and that one of the bidders, Future Focus, does not possess a licence to teach ITC from the Ministry of Education.
The ICT course is also on hold because of police investigations into the award of the contract.
MaltaToday is publishing the results of the panel below.

mvella@mediatoday.com.mt

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