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maltatoday WEDNESDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2018 YANNICK PACE TWO direct orders amount- ing to €5 million, awarded by Sport Malta, for works carried out on the shooting range cur- rently under construction at Ta' Kandia, were necessary for the project to be completed in time for June's shooting World Cup, according to parliamentary sec- retary for sport Clifton Grima. Yesterday, Grima faced a bar- rage of questions from Nation- alist Party leader Adrian De- lia on why the two contracts - which amounted to roughly €2.5 million each - were award- ed through a negotiated proce- dure, rather than by tender. One of the contracts relat- ed to the purchasing of a net which allows lead pellets from shots to be contained within a particular area. The second in- volved the construction of the backstop for the net, as well as other structural works on the shooting range site, including the levelling of the site, the con- struction of a water collection system, and the construction of a shooting pit tunnel. Speaking to MaltaToday, Grima said that the contract for the net was awarded to a sup- plier because that particular supplier was the only one that could supply it, while the sec- ond was awarded on the basis that it needed to be completed urgently. In both cases, he said, sub- sidiary legislation 174.04, which relates to public procurement regulations had been strictly observed. The regulations define a nego- tiated procedure as a "procedure whereby contracting authorities consult the economic operators of their choice and negotiate the terms of a contract with one or more of these." According to Article 151 of the regulations, there are four instances in which a negotiated procedure can be used. One of these instances, outlined in Ar- ticle 151(b)(ii), can be applied in situations where the work can only be supplied by one opera- tor "when competition is absent for technical reasons". The Shotnet, said Grima, was a very specific product, which consists of a 365-m long net that could be electronically raised to a height of 15m. "When the shooting federa- tion and the government de- partments were looking for suppliers of the system they couldn't find any others," said Grima, who added that the net meant that a permanent 20m- high wall would not have to be constructed. Pressed on whether it was possible that only one company could supply the required net, Grima said that he was not an expert himself, but had been informed that this was the case. In the second instance, Grima pointed out that Article 151(c) allowed a negotiated procedure to be used when it "is strictly necessary, for reasons of ex- treme urgency". The regula- tions state that such urgency needs to be brought about by "unforeseeable events" or when the timeframes required for normal tendering procedures can't be complied with. "Issuing a tender would take between six to eight months," said Grima, who pointed out that the shooting range needed to be completed in time for the ISSF world cup, which Malta will be hosting in June. He said that despite having been awarded through a ne- gotiated procedure, a number of contractors had been ap- proached and asked to submit an offer for the works. The most competitive price had been se- lected, claimed the parliamen- tary secretary. The announcement that Malta would be hosting the shooting world cup was made towards the end of 2014, and when asked whether the urgen- cy to finish the project could have been avoided, Grima said the Ta' Kandia range had only been announced last May. "We needed 26 acres, that's no joke and finding a site was not an easy task," said Grima, who also pointed out that he had been appointed parliamentary secretary after last June's gen- eral election, and that he had immediately set about applying for the necessary permits. He insisted that his secretariat had been in constant commu- nication with the contracts de- partment despite the fact that he could not show any docu- mentation proving this was the case. "In this case I am the politician and I will carry political respon- sibility for the work that has been done," he said. "I obviously knew there would eventually be a parliamentary question once the project was completed." Grima said he expected the shooting range to be complet- ed between April and May, in time to host an event before the world cup started. "It will be a miracle, for us to have finished a project like this in only eight months." NEWS Parliamentary secretary insists shooting range direct orders necessary for project's on-time completion After questions were raised about two direct orders amounting to €5 million, sport parliamentary secretary Clifton Grima insists that both were justifiable and according to public procurement regulations Clifton Grima