Imbert hits licensing mess — foreigners to probe

He was speaking to Newsday after yesterday’s post-Cabinet media conference. He said he has sent the relevant information to an expert in Canada and the United States respectively, and expects a report within one or two weeks time.

Several companies have bid to provide hardware and software to computerise the operations of the Transport Division, but as Sunday Newsday had reported on June 5, the ministry’s Evaluation Committee is split on the two finalist bidders. Imbert told the news briefing that there exists a view that the lowest bidder should not get the contract.

"What has not appeared in the newspapers so far, is that what we are being asked to do is to disqualify the lowest tenderer."

He said he hoped people now understand why he is being careful and cautious about this issue, adding, "We are not rushing into making what could be a mistake and then be accused of impropriety about not applying the tender rules properly."

Imbert said the evaluation of the bids had become very messy, and if no clear solution was available, the tendering process might have to be started afresh.

He told Newsday that the lowest or best bid was US$1 million (TT$6 million), while the second best bid was US$3.4 million (TT$20 million).

He said that given the mood among the population, he would take a step back and try to determine the true facts of the case.

"That fact never appears in the newspaper reports; the fact that I am being asked to disqualify the lowest tenderer, which I have absolutely no intention of doing, without getting an independent second opinion which would guide me on what to do. Otherwise I’d just find myself being accused of being involved in some form of impropriety."

He said the ministry had engaged the UNDP in the selection process, saying, "Even if we wanted to disqualify the lowest tenderer, it would have to be in accordance with UNDP procedures."

So what’s next? He replied, "There are two options. Either you prove definitively that the lowest tenderer is not compliant, or you do prove that they are compliant and it is a question of who you award it to, or you start the whole thing all over again.

"But it’s messy. It’s very messy to be presented with something like this. It’s not clean at all. What I want to do as minister is to make sure I understand everything that’s going on before I move forward. It would be very rash of me to disqualify the lowest tender and go with number two. I’d be accused of all sorts of things and find myself having to answer questions in Parliament," he added.