‘Amateur’ public procurement needs major reform

The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Enterprise and Industry believe there are problems with public procurement, with the government’s failure to allocate €600 million in tender funds for the construction of a waste-to-energy plant being the latest example.

The chamber said in a statement on Saturday that there is now a wealth of evidence — from the National Audit Office report to court decisions and appeals judgments — that public procurement is “opaque and unfair, leading to abusive, amateurish and irresponsible use of public funds.”

The chamber’s statement did not directly mention any specific case that prompted its statement. But sources confirmed that the influential business lobby group was shocked by the public contract dispute case, which was appealed to the court this week. Cancellation of €600 million tender Reward decision.

The large tender for the construction of a waste-to-energy plant in Magatab was won by a consortium of French waste giant Paprec and local contractor Bonnici Brothers.

The Public Contracts Review Committee confirmed the award decision following an appeal by the competition.

But this week the Court of Appeal ruled that the entire decision must be quashed and that the tender evaluation committee and PCRB members Conflict of interest issues This disqualifies them from participating in the process.

In its statement on Saturday, the Malta Chamber of Commerce said that the problems with public procurement were well known and recalled that back in 2021, the Chamber published a report suggesting ways to reform the process.

“Violations and abuses continue to occur due to limited transparency, weak internal controls, inadequate checks and balances, and conflicts of interest. Current legal remedies are sometimes ineffective and limited, with uncertainty about what can be challenged and by whom,” the report said.

The Chamber said that while the government acknowledged that there were problems, neither the government, the opposition nor the Malta Economic and Social Development Board had done much to implement reforms.

Some recommendations from the Malta Chamber of Commerce include:

• Request the government to publish its procurement outlook for the next six months
• Initial Market Consultation Process
• Use truly independent experts when drafting procurement documents
• No longer focusing solely on prioritizing the lowest bidder, but more on quality and ROI metrics
• Better review of all direct orders before they are issued
• Establish a publicly accessible and easy-to-use contract register that includes details of all contracts and their associated milestones, payments, disputes and amendments

The chamber said the business community and the public had “had enough of cowboys who run rampant against good governance and clean business practices” and stressed the need for all economic operators to compete on a level playing field.

“Public procurement expenditure is taxpayers’ money. Governments have the responsibility and obligation to manage taxpayers’ money properly, ensure value for money and avoid extravagant expenditure that does not provide any benefit to taxpayers,” the report said.