Alleged ‘tender rig’ at ISM?
An alleged attempt to ‘rig’ a tender by ‘tailor-making the technical specifications’ to suit a hand-picked party has come to light at the Institute of Sports Medicine (ISM), with an aggrieved party protesting over alleged violation of procurement guidelines.
The ISM recently called for tenders to supply, install, commission, train and maintain equipment for its human performance laboratory but concerns about the specifications were brought to the notice of the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) at the pre-bid meeting. It was therefore agreed to ‘expand certain limitations’ in the bid document to allow more parties to compete.
Three parties then submitted bids. Although the lowest bid was Rs.179mn, it is learnt the TEC has recommended the second lowest bidder who has quoted Rs 248mn—Rs 69mn higher—to the Procurement Committee. This offer was from the same company favoured in the ‘manipulated’ technical specifications.
The lowest bidder is now protesting over the TEC’s decision saying it fulfilled all technical specifications and should thereby be awarded the tender given the low price. However, Dr. Lakshman Edirisingha, the TEC Chairman said the committee met on Thursday and made their recommendation to the Procurement Committee.
“After evaluating this thoroughly, we made our recommendation and it’s now up to the Procurement Committee to make their decision. I am not in a position to divulge any more details as the process is ongoing,” Dr. Edirisingha maintained.
Dr. Edirisingha, a former Director General of ISM, highlighted the importance of introducing bio-mechanics in order to help athletes achieve full potential.
“After so many years of deliberation, we did the specifications. By nature, this is a very complex system. Only few suppliers are available in the market. Anyway this is under consideration and, if someone is unhappy with the outcome, there is a process to follow and they can do that. We made our decisions after close scrutiny of all factors, not price along,” he explained.
However, the aggrieved party said TEC is violating the procurement guidelines by not awarding the tender to the lowest bidder who has met all the required specifications. Also, the lowest bidder has successfully installed a similar system at the University of Sabaragamuwa, a factor the company said should work in favour of its bid.