Labels and Tags

Accountability (71) Adequate documentation (7) ADR in procurement (4) Allocation of risks (6) Best interest of government (11) Best practices (19) Best value (15) Bidder prejudice (11) Blanket purchase agreement (1) Bridge contract (2) Bundling (6) Cancellation and rejection (2) Centralized procurement structure (12) Changes during bid process (14) Clarifications vs Discussions (1) Competence (9) Competition vs Efficiency (29) Competitive position (3) Compliance (35) Conflict of interest (32) Contract administration (26) Contract disputes (4) Contract extension or modification (9) Contract formation (1) Contract interpretation (1) Contract terms (3) Contract types (6) Contract vs solicitation dispute (2) Contractor responsibility (20) Conviction (4) Cooperative purchasing (3) Corrective action (1) Cost and pricing (13) Debarment (4) Determinations (8) Determining responsibility (37) Disclosure requirements (7) Discussions during solicitation (10) Disposal of surplus property (3) Effective enforcement requirement (35) Effective procurement management (5) Effective specifications (36) Emergency procurement (14) eProcurement (5) Equitable tolling (2) Evaluation of submissions (22) Fair and equitable treatment (14) Fair and reasonable value (23) Fiscal effect of procurement (14) Frivolous protest (1) Good governance (12) Governmental functions (27) Guam (14) Guam procurement law (12) Improper influence (11) Incumbency (13) Integrity of system (31) Interested party (7) Jurisdiction (1) Justification (1) Life-cycle cost (1) Limits of government contracting (5) Lore vs Law (4) market research (7) Materiality (3) Methods of source selection (33) Mistakes (4) Models of Procurement (1) Needs assessment (11) No harm no foul? (8) Offer & acceptance (1) Other procurement links (14) Outsourcing (34) Past performance (12) Planning policy (34) Politics of procurement (52) PPPs (6) Prequalification (1) Principle of competition (95) Principles of procurement (25) Private vs public contract (17) Procurement authority (5) Procurement controversies series (79) Procurement ethics (19) Procurement fraud (31) Procurement lifecycle (9) Procurement philosophy (17) Procurement procedures (30) Procurement reform (63) Procurement theory (11) Procurement workforce (2) Procurment philosophy (6) Professionalism (17) Protest - formality (2) Protest - timing (12) Protests - general (37) Purposes and policies of procurement (11) Recusal (1) Remedies (17) Requirement for new procurement (4) Resolution of protests (4) Responsiveness (14) Restrictive specifications (5) Review procedures (13) RFQ vs RFP (1) Scope of contract (16) Settlement (2) Social preference provisions (60) Sole source (48) Sovereign immunity (3) Staffing (8) Standard commercial products (3) Standards of review (2) Standing (6) Stays and injunctions (6) Structure of procurement (1) Substantiation (9) Surety (1) Suspension (6) The procurement record (1) The role of price (10) The subject matter of procurement (23) Trade agreements vs procurement (1) Training (33) Transparency (63) Uniformity (6) Unsolicited proposals (3)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Procurement controversies -- Malta

No hard evidence of corruption - Auditor
The Auditor General "did not come across any hard and conclusive evidence of corruption" in the inquiry concerning the tender issued by Enemalta Corporation for the supply of a new power generating plant at Delimara.

However, he complained of "the lack of cooperation from certain stakeholders who contended that they could not recall certain events or information" and questioned the undue haste with which the agreement was signed.

The auditor said that "a case in point is Mr J. Mizzi, local representative for the tenderer awarded this contract (BWSC), who was considered one of the key players throughout this inquiry. Although summoned by the National Audit Office on three separate occasions, he repeatedly cited lack of memory when asked certain questions".

In his report, the Auditor General noted that Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter had declared a conflict of interest, especially since, in his private capacity, he had business links with the local company entrusted with civil works in one of the bids under consideration (which eventually was selected and agreement signed with).

"It was noted that the chairman, prior to his declared conflict of interest, had appointed the members on the evaluation and adjudicating committees responsible for the evaluation of tenders."

"Considering the circumstances of this case it is felt that it would have been more prudent and appropriate had the Enemalta chairman resigned from his post at the time when he had declared a conflict of interest. This would surely have eliminated the extensive controversies which arose at a later stage, especially in view of the fact that the local company with whom the chairman had declared having professional connections with was actually sub-contracted the civil works of this tender."

COMMENT: Conflict of interest provisions of the Guam procurement Ethics Rules (modeled on the Amercian Bar Association Model Procurement Code) would have required the minister to recuse himself long before he finally declared his conflict. He should have recused himself from the appointment process in the first instance. 5 GCA § 5268.

No comments: