Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/404410
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2014 News 9 Simpler procurement rules on public tenders of up to €15 million CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Solarig was part of the Alberta Photovoltaic Consortium which in 2012 was granted a letter of intent by the re- sources ministry, confirming them as the successful bidders of a tender- ing process for the installation and operation of PV systems installed on government buildings in Malta. The discovery of the unsigned bank guarantee – the suspicious document – has however raised questions about the process leading to the successful bidder. As part of the investigation by the IAID – first revealed by MaltaToday months ago – the MFSA's legal and international relations unit wrote to the Spanish bank conglomerate Ban- kia, requesting a verification of the authenticity of the bank docu- ment. Barbaro Sant, his daughter Liz Barbaro Sant, form the Alberta Photovoltaic Consortium, and Antoine Busuttil of Solarig Overseas Holdings, all gave MaltaToday identi- cal statements when asked to comment on the poten- tially explosive allegations. "We would not like to get involved at this stage. We are not releasing any informa- tion. At this point we prefer to let the political parties talk," the three individuals said in separate comments. Energy minister Konrad Mizzi revealed in parliament on Monday a letter of intent, signed by former resources ministry permanent secretary Christopher Ciantar, confirm- ing the acceptance of the Alber- ta-Solarig offer for the lease of 67,000 square metres of rooftops and sale of energy at 23 cents per kWh. During Monday's edition of Re- porter on TVM, former resources minister George Pullicino denied having anything to do with the ten- dering process, insisting that the contract was the responsibility of the Malta Resources Authority, the Department of Contracts and the Fi- nance Ministry. On his part, Mizzi claims that Pulli- cino was responsible for the contract, and that while two out of three bid- ders were excluded over administra- tive issues, Alberta was confirmed as the successful tenderer despite clear shortcomings over the Bancaja let- ter. Adding to the controversy of the PV project was the fact that the Malta Resources Authority approved of the higher-than-normal feed-in tariff of 23c per kWh that government would pay Solarig, three months after the letter of intent was sent to the Al- berta Photovoltaic Consortium in September 2012. The concession agreement was signed in December 2012, whereas the letter confirming the MRA's ap- proval for the feed-in tariff was issued on 5 December, 2012. Normally, En- emalta paid clients 16c per kWh fed into the national grid. The letter of intent from Christo- pher Ciantar stated that it was "intended to create a legally binding contract between the two parties". Reacting to the government's claims, Ciantar said that originally a 29c per kWh feed-in tariff was sug- gested by a Big Four firm, before the resources ministry re-evaluated the cost due to the decreasing cost of panels. "A tariff of €0.225 per unit was judged reasonable during these anal- yses," Ciantar said, adding that pay- roll and security costs for the 25-year project were also taken into consid- eration. Three bidders were shortlisted from a list of 15 applicants by the ad- judicating committee. A tender was subsequently issued by the contracts department. "The whole process was governed by it and not the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs. MR- RA acted in full compliance with the instructions received from the con- tracts department," Ciantar said. Ciantar said that only one tender was received because the project was "innovative, of significant risk to the investor and as one potential bidder put it, too onerous in favour of the government." According to the tender, the gov- ernment would pay €35 million for the PV panels and then buy the elec- tricity at 23c per kWh. THE finance ministry has raised the threshold for procurement under the 'three package procedure' from €4 million to €15 million in a bid to issue calls for higher value tenders. The new legal notice amends the threshold appli- cable for the implementation of the Three Package procedure, as part of the government's commit- ment to reduce red tape and maximise the efficien- cy of the public service. The new regulatory amendments will allow calls for tenders up to a value of €15 million, excluding VAT. This will mean that the tenders which have an es- timated value of less than €15 million net of VAT will have only one appeal stage and only one stand- still period. Under the three-package system, tenders shall only qualify for consideration if they are submitted in separate and sealed packages which comprise a bid bond, the technical specifications and support- ive literature, and complete price schedules and bills of quantities. "Concurrently, the government has also enacted other amendments intended to avoid cumbersome procedures in the interest of greater efficiency," a spokesperson for finance minister Edward Scicluna said when contacted about the new legal amend- ments Among these is an amendment that will remove the requirement by tender applicants to manually submit an original bid-bond, and enable them to submit tender offers – including bid-bonds – com- pletely electronically. "This amendment is aimed at reducing the number of bids that are disqualified for minor issues, such as not manually submitting a manual copy of the bid- bond despite having submitted the same document electronically. These changes are expected to bring about a reduction of 20 days in the current average period required for the award of a tender." months ago – the MFSA's legal and international relations unit wrote to the Spanish bank conglomerate Ban- kia, requesting a verification of the authenticity of the bank docu- and Antoine Busuttil of Solarig Overseas Holdings, all gave MaltaToday identi- cal statements when asked to comment on the poten- "We would not like to get involved at this stage. We are not releasing any informa- tion. At this point we prefer to let the political parties talk," the three individuals said in separate comments. Energy minister Konrad Mizzi revealed in parliament on Monday a letter of intent, signed by former resources ministry permanent secretary Christopher Ciantar, confirm- ing the acceptance of the Alber- ta-Solarig offer for the lease of 67,000 square metres of rooftops and sale of energy at 23 cents per During Monday's edition of Re- porter on TVM, former resources minister George Pullicino denied having anything to do with the ten- dering process, insisting that the contract was the responsibility of the Malta Resources Authority, the Department of Contracts and the Fi- On his part, Mizzi claims that Pulli- cino was responsible for the contract, and that while two out of three bid- ders were excluded over administra- tive issues, Alberta was confirmed as the successful tenderer despite clear emalta paid clients 16c per kWh fed into the national grid. The letter of intent from Christo- pher Ciantar Alberta-Solarig partners refusing comment Edward Scicluna: tenders which have an estimated value of less than €15 million net of VAT will have only one appeal stage and only one standstill period File photo: George Pullicino (right) viewing rooftop photovoltaic panels LEFT: The letter from Bancia Bank in reply to an eqnuiry by the MFSA on the validity of the banking document presented by Solarig. The Spanish bank said it was unable to verify the authenticity of the Bancaja statement, leading to suspicions of possible fraud