DISQUALIFIED COMPANY GIVEN E330M TENDER

MBABANE - Mystery surrounds the awarding of a E330 million tender to a joint venture company that had initially been disqualified from the bidding process.

The tender is for the construction of a Referral and Emergency Complex at the Mbabane Government Hospital.
A joint venture initiative consisting of Roots Civils (PTY) LTD, Duvan and Pots Construction has been given the job yet it was found not to qualify for the tender because ‘one partner in the joint venture failed to meet all the administrative compliance requirements’.

Five companies were vying for the multi-million tender but four of them, including the joint venture, were, for different reasons, found not fit to do the work.
One of these companies was disqualified because it ‘obtained a score below the minimum qualifying score on technical capacity’.
Another company was found not fit because it ‘failed to provide a tender guarantee in the required format’.

The last tenderer failed to meet the criteria because of ‘insufficient financial resources and inadequate track-record in Swaziland’.
The only qualifying company was Stefanutti Stocks Construction Swaziland, hence an ‘intention to award a contract’ was issued to this corporation.
It should be noted though that according to the Public Procurement Act No. 7 of 2011, the letter of intention to award a contract does not constitute a contract.

Further, the Act provides that after the letter has been issued, all tenderers who submitted bids have a 10 working days period within which to submit applications for a review if they have any grievances.  
Stefanutti was awarded the tender at a price of E329 884 708.38 while the joint venture had submitted its bid at a cost of E323 940 156.07 and the highest bid price was for E339 843 367.80.

However, in a correspondence dated December 29, 2016 and signed by Bertram Stewart, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, Stefanutti was informed that the ‘intention to award a contract, to the corporation was being withdrawn.
“The tender Notice as published December 21, 2016, intending to award the contract to Stefanutti Stocks Construction Swaziland in the arithmetically corrected amount of E331 931 134.88 is hereby receded with immediate effect,” the PS wrote.

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