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Travel agents question SLFEA about irregular tender periods for foreign worker tickets
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
Travel agents registered with the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency (SLFEA) have questioned the State-run entity about short, irregular tender periods granted to quote ticket prices for workers leaving to Israel and South Korea under bilateral agreements.
The tickets are issued to workers through SLFEA. The Sunday Times was provided with a list of recent tenders dated January 3 to March 4, 2025. Based on independent calculations, suppliers are given various tender periods – ranging from five days to a few hours – to bid for blocs of tickets. Some are for up to 100 passengers, translating to bookings worth millions of rupees.
There does not appear to be a set formula or logic for how many hours or days are granted to place bids. For instance, on January 6, suppliers were given two hours and 32 minutes to quote prices for 30 tickets to Israel where the arrival date of workers was January 9 (three days later).
But on January 3, a tender had been advertised for 30 tickets to Israel where suppliers were given 63 hours and 38 minutes to bid – but arrival was on January 7 (just a day after the tender was closed) or January 8.
According to the notices (circulated via email) that we analysed, in recent weeks the time granted for quoting prices is short even when arrival date is between 7 to 16 days away. For instance, a tender was called after regular office hours at 6.37 pm on March 4 for 50 tickets to Israel. The time allocated was 19 hours and 23 minutes – but the scheduled arrival in Tel Aviv was published as March 20, which is 16 days from bid closing.
At least one travel agent has pointed out to the SLFEA that as a government agency that it was violating National Procurement Commission Guidelines. “Your agency is calling for tenders with only a few hours’ notice for suppliers to submit quotations for air tickets,” Janath Vithanage, Chairman of Danata Travels and Tours (Pvt) Ltd states in a letter to SLFEA Chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi.
Mr Vithanage told the Sunday Times that registered suppliers pay a fee to the SLFEA to offer ticketing and visa services.
Meanwhile, Mr Hettiarachchi said the issue raised by travel agents was not created by SLFEA but that workers often had to be sent to Israel or Korea on short notice once the job orders were received. “It is not us or the Bureau [Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment] that decides the date or time of departure,” he maintained. “It is based on employer demand, where he wants a certain number of workers on a certain day.”
“Sometimes, they inform us months in advance,” he continued. “Sometimes, they give us a week. In instances where we close bids in a day or two, it is always to meet end-user demand. ”
When it was pointed out to him that short tender periods were published also when arrival dates were more than two weeks away – and that a few companies were routinely winning the contracts – he replied that, while there had been irregularities before, the new administration had cleared them up.
“Proper tender procedures were introduced,” he insisted. “But if the complaint is that we are rushing tenders even when we have sufficient time, I will take up one or two cases and look at them. I am not aware of such an issue but I will check on Monday to see if such a thing is happening.”
Mr Hettiarachchi said that while government tender procedures mandated at least a week to be granted for quotations, they could not meet that requirement when there was “short notice” from employers. The SLFEA has notified the National Procurement Commission in this regard and asked for a clarification, he said.
Analysis of recent tender opening and closing times showed vast discrepancies and a lack of consistency. At 9.53 am on March 3, quotations were called for 25 tickets to Israel. Bids were closed on March 5 at 9.30 am – 47 hours and 37 minutes later. The arrival date was published as March 17 (12 days later) to March 20.
On February 25, a tender was called at 4.15 pm for 13 tickets to Israel. It closed on February 27 at 9.30 am, which is 41 hours and 11 minutes later. The arrival date in Tel Aviv was March 6, 7 days away.
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