Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/820803
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 MAY 2017 6 News Preliminary Market Consultation The Gozo Channel Group ('Gozo Channel') wishes to participate in the competitive tender process issued by the Maltese Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure for a Public Service Concession Contract for the Provision of Passenger and Vehicle Ferry Services Between Malta and Gozo (the 'Tender'). The Tender was published on 28th April 2017 on the Maltese Government's e-Tenders website and the procurement documentation is available on: https://www.etenders.gov.mt/epps/cft/prepareViewCfTWS.do?resourceId=3582106 The awardee of the Tender is required to provide conventional ferry services between Ċirkewwa (Malta) and Mġarr (Gozo) and also fast ferry services between Valletta (Malta) and Mġarr (Gozo) as public service obligations. Gozo Channel is the incumbent economic operator for the provision of conventional ferry services, and it therefore has the necessary experience, expertise and resources to provide those services. Gozo Channel is looking for a partner with whom to submit the bid for the Tender (the 'Partner') which has the necessary experience, expertise or resources to provide fast ferry services. Any interested party is expected to prove to Gozo Channel that it is in a position to meet the applicable specifications, requirements and criteria applicable to the fast ferry services as required by the Tender. The Partner is expected to commit exclusively to Gozo Channel's bid and it may not submit its own bid, participate as a member in a third party joint venture, consortium or other economic association, or accept to be named as a sub-contractor in a third party's bid. Gozo Channel will be the lead member of any commercial arrangement reached with the Partner on submitting the bid. Any interested parties who would be open to form an exclusive commercial arrangement with Gozo Channel for the submission of the bid for the Tender are requested to express their interest by sending an e-mail to eoisubmission@gozochannel.com by not later than 1700hrs CET of the 17th May 2017. Interested parties are to provide details of: - The vessels which will be made available for the provision of fast ferry services pursuant to the Tender; and - The type/s of commercial arrangement/s which the interested party would be willing to participate in. Gozo Channel will not be in a position to access any submissions made by interested parties before 1700hrs CET of the 17th May 2017. Any queries in relation to this preliminary market consultation are to be sent to eoiqueries@ gozochannel.com by not later than 1700hrs CET of the 10th May 2017. The prospective Partner will be expected to reach an agreement with the Gozo Channel Group prior to the submission of the bid for the Tender by the Gozo Channel Group. Court halts police promotions How employers back over 3.6 m hours of work MAT THEW AGIUS A judge has provisionally granted an injunction halting the selection process for Assis- tant Commissioners of Police. The decree was issued at around midnight on Friday night, on an application filed shortly before by Superinten- dent Carmelo Bartolo against the minister for the interior and national security and the Com- missioner of Police. The application for the injunc- tion, signed by lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Kris Busietta and Julian Farrugia, said Bartolo's right to a fair hearing and equal- ity of arms were being preju- diced by the selection process before the Public Service Com- mission. This process was being conducted in an irregular fash- ion, he said, requiring the filing of the injunction to safeguard his rights. Bartolo had applied for the AC post following a call issued in October 2016. In January this year, the selection board, composed of Commissioner of Police Lawrence Cutajar, Josie Brincat and Joseph Mangani, concluded the selection proce- dure. Bartolo objected to the result in a petition filed before the PSC in January and in his injunction request claimed to have encoun- tered obstacles and procedural irregularities that breached his right to a fair hearing and equal- ity of arms. Bartolo said he was emailed in February to provide a list of witnesses to summon before the board within two days. But in the subsequent two sittings, none of the witnesses was heard as the Selection Board "express- ly refused" to allow him to pro- duce the witnesses the board it- self had requested. Neither had he been given the opportunity to see the Selection Board's rea- sons for turning down his appli- cation, he said: "The Commis- sion acted in a manner entirely devoid of equity, justice, impar- tiality, competence and trans- parency," he said in his writ. In a sitting held in March, the PSC chairman described the se- lection board as an extension of the hand of the Commission. Bartolo added that a letter sent by the PSC on 10 March had asked the minister to "approve a deviation from the semi-stand- ard criteria due to the sensitive nature of this call". On 5 May, Bartolo was in- formed by email that his peti- tion had been declined. Just before midnight on Friday, Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef de- creed that there appeared to be a prima facie case for the injunc- tion and upheld the application. A similar injunction had been filed last January with respect to the selection process for Deputy Commissioner of Police. MATTHEW VELLA IN 2005, Nationalist Prime Min- ister Lawrence Gonzi – a year in his new job as party leader – an- nounced that public holidays fall- ing on weekends would no longer be added as 'lost holidays' to work- ers' statutory leave days. Malta celebrates 14 public and national holidays each year. Na- tional holidays are regulated by the National Holidays and other Pub- lic Holidays Act of 1975. The 2005 amendment states that holidays occurring on the regular rest days (weekends) do not entitle workers to an additional day off from work, and holidays cannot be moved to the following Monday if they occur on rest days. To business owners, this amend- ment offered a more streamlined approach to regulate their employ- ees' holiday entitlement. Malta enjoys five national days, mainly informed by successive govern- ments' imposition of memo- rial days to mark historic achieve- ments; their excess is perceived to be spurious by employers, but nat- urally welcomed by their workers. Back in 2005, talks for a com- prehensive social pact between unions, employers and the State failed to deliver a reform package. Labour had then voted against the legal changes. Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, then an adviser to the GWU, had described gov- ernment claims that the meas- ure would increase productivity by around 1.5% as flawed and "a childish attempt at economic esti- mation". Whether the effect of holidays on the weekend resulted in any tangible effect on the economy, is debatable. The years leading up to 2008 were marked by an increase of the VAT tax rate from 15% to 18% and the 17% surcharge on water and electricity, measures de- signed to raise revenues and stem losses at Enemalta, as well as a Lm10 departure tax. The removal of the vacation leave gave employers back 10 days on each worker over the next three years – 3.6 million hours each year, according to gainfully occupied data from the National Statistics Office. That means that up to 2008, some 10 million hours were won back by employers. Such austerity meas- ures, if unpopular, were deemed necessary at a time when competi- tiveness necessitated keeping one's head above the water. While Scicluna today says he will introduce measures to mitigate any effects on business, Muscat insists that the effect of the holi- days amendment in 2005 has to- day been flattened out and that the Maltese economy's performance affords the addition of the holi- days. Perhaps, so has workers' discon- tentment at Gonzi's measure been flattened out. Only the General Workers Union said it wanted to open up the discussion again. Indeed both the Malta Employ- ers Association and the Cham- ELECTION FACT-CHECK • Public holidays on To help competitiveness, Lawrence Gonzi (right) removed the provision entitling workers to an extra day's leave for each public holiday falling at a weekend