AJK Council clarifies report

ISLAMABAD: The AJK Council Secretariat Islamabad has clarified a news item published in “The News” on Tuesday, titled “Lowest bidder denied Rs610 million road project”.
The AJK Council Secretariat clarified that the entire tendering process was completed after a due process of law and tender was widely circulated in two national dailies i.e. “The Nation” and “Jang”. Total four bidders participated. One bidder did not qualify technically. The other three bidders duly participated and all terms and conditions set out in the tender notice were announced before the opening of financial bids. No one objected to it. Of these three bidders, one was financially disqualified for not having credit line of Rs500 million to assess financial strength. The other two qualified all the terms and conditions of the tender notice and resultantly work of the project was awarded to the lowest bidder. It is, therefore, not correct that lowest bidder was denied the road project.
All the bidding documents were also examined in the light of the terms and conditions of the PEC contract documents and contractor M/S Sardar Ilyas, Alam Construction Company was found to be non responsive, as it failed to provide the credit line of up to Rs500 million duly verified by the bank. It was the criteria set out to conform to the financial genuineness of the firm. Since the firm failed to produce documentary evidence of its financial viability, so it was considered non responsive and was financially disqualified. Accordingly the work was awarded to M/S progressive Technical Associates, being the lowest and also provided duly verified credit line of Rs500 million and this firm also fulfilled other terms and conditions set out in the tender notice. It is totally baseless that contract has been awarded to highest bidder.
Usman Manzoor adds: It is for the information of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan that the firm, M/S Sardar Ilyas, Alam Construction Company was declared qualified during the Technical Evaluation which included its bank guarantees and it obtained 61 marks while the company which has been awarded the contract obtained 62 marks during the technical evaluation. If M/S Sardar Ilyas, Alam Construction Company’s bank guarantees were not satisfactory then why its financial bid was opened? It is also stated that the AJK Council was not willing to give tender documents to the said company until a court order was obtained. The company was provided the tender documents only 20 minutes before the deadline. In the financial bids, M/S Sardar Ilyas, Alam Construction Company’s quoted rates were Rs6.8 million less than the company which has been awarded the contract, therefore, it is not true that the company which was the lowest bidder has been awarded the contract. In fact, it was the second lowest bidder, while the lowest bidder has been denied its right of being awarded the contract on merit. Moreover, there is no mention of the bar that the AJK Council placed while inviting the tender that no one can quote rates below 10% of the quoted rates, a practice which has been condemned by corruption watchdogs and Public Procurement Rules also do not contain any such clause. The events and corresponding acts of the AJK Council clearly reveal that the contractor was pre-selected.
The News stands by its story.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/PrintEdition.aspx?ID=301060&Cat=2&dt=2/10/2015