Judge questions officialÂ’s role in tender process
A Durban High Court judge referred to the \'highly undesirable\' conduct of a senior official from the Department of Public Works when setting aside the award of a multi-million rand government contract to refurbish Pietermaritzburg\'s Colonial Building yesterday.
Acting Judge Gavin Morley ordered that the tendering process start afresh \'in the interests of transparency and to give the (department) an opportunity to get its house in orderÂ’, says a report in The Mercury. The review proceedings were initiated by unsuccessful bidder GVK Siyazama Building Contractors, claiming that it had been summarily and unfairly disqualified from the process by department officials, and that the tender was unclear regarding what Construction Industry Development Board grading was required for a company to tender. GVK said its tender for R60.4m was far cheaper than the bid of R68.3m from the successful tenderer, G Liviera and Son, and it should have been awarded the contract. Earlier, it emerged that after tenders had closed, Elijah Dube, a senior project manager in the department and chairperson of the bid evaluation committee, had met a representative of G Liviera who had given him further documents. In his judgment Morley commented that it was \'highly undesirable\' for someone in Dube\'s position to accept any documentation from a tenderer other than provided for in the invitation to tender. Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)