BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Centre for Mindset Change (CMC) has vowed to block the re-tendering process for the construction of the Nsanje-Marka railway line.

CMC has since written the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and sent a copy of the letter to the Anti Corruption Bureau.

CMC feels retendering will give chance to Mota Engil which came out the best in the first bids but is under ACB investigations following complaints from the other bidders.

CMC has since called for the reevaluation of the bids.

But the Ministry of Transport and Public Works says reevaluation is not possible because the bid validity period expired and doing so would be going against Regulation 48 of the Public Procurement.

Regulation 48 (1) reads: “A procuring and disposing entity shall set a validity period for bidding documents that is of a sufficient length to enable the procuring and disposing entity to complete the evaluation and comparison of bids and to obtain all the necessary approvals so that the procurement contract can be awarded within that period.”

Regulation 48 (2) reads: “If, prior to the expiry of the validity period of bids, the procuring and disposing entity requests bidders to extend the validity period of their bids, it shall address such a request to all the bidders.”

But CMC argued that the regulation is silent on whether the bid validity period can be extended or not after it has expired.

CMC argues that the ACB, the ministry and Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) have misunderstood regulation 48 of the Public Procurement.

“We have consulted our legal team and we are convinced that the reasons that your ministry has used for this are not valid but convenient for your ministry to correct the mistakes of the bidder that you intended to award and give them a second chance,” reads the letter addressed to Secretary for Transport and Public Works dated December 23, 2021 and signed by CMC executive director Phillip Kamangirah.

“This is after the Anti Corruption Bureau found that the process that your ministry used was marred with elements of corruption and that the Anti Corruption Bureau is investigating the bidder that you intended to award,” the letter adds.

CMC says it will get an injunction against the re-tendering process and will also ask the court to interpret regulation 48 that tackles the issue of bid validity among others.

CMC says it is suspicious of the ministry’s conduct because the issue of bid validity has only come out conveniently after the recommendation from ACB and was never an issue when the notice of intention to award was being issued,

“We call upon your ministry to widely consult on Regulation 48 and do the right thing which is to ask all the bidders to extend their bid validity periods if indeed you find it to be an issue at this stage and you re-evaluate the bids,” reads the letter.

In the first bid process, Mota Engil from Portugal became the winner followed by China Railway and then China Civil Engineering Construction.

Last week, in a twist of events, the ACB changed tune asking the ministry to conduct a retender instead of reevaluation which it had earlier recommended.