Polidano Group wins EU-funded contract without meeting tender preconditions
Legal specialists in the processing and application of tenders have raised very serious questions over a decision to award a tender to the Polidano Group, despite the fact that the company does not meet certain basic preconditions.
The latest tender involves the design and construction of a submarine outfall at Barkat, off the coast of Xghajra. It is worth €7 million, and is co-funded by the European Union’s cohesion fund.
Speaking to MaltaToday, the legal firm said the conditions for a company to be awarded a tender are clear, and one such condition demands that audited and certified financial statements for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 are to be finalised and presented.
In the case of major contractor Polidano, it is clear that according to the records at Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) the financial statements for the Polidano Group were last archived on 20 June, 2006. In the case of the financial statements for the Polidano Bros company, the last date its accounts were archived at the MFSA was 27 February, 2004.
A similar EU-funded tender, this time for the reconstruction of the seriously damaged Marsaxlokk breakwater, also demands the tendering company to provide audited and certified financial statements for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The legal advisors said that in the case of this same tendering process, there is evidence that this precondition was ‘curiously’ ignored by the adjudicating committee when selecting the successful candidate.
“In some particular cases, applicants were disqualified for minor reasons,” one member of the legal firm said.
When asked why other competing companies did not object to the decision of the contracts committee, it was explained that the cost required to appeal was prohibitive and that if a complaint was deemed to be unjustified, the sum deposited could not be redeemed.
The tender details for the submarine outfall will be divulged next Tuesday by the Department of Contracts.
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