Fedders-Lloyd Corporation has asked the Health Ministry to review the award of the contract for the construction of the India-funded specialty hospital and asked that it be selected as the contractor as it has “expertise and experience” to fulfill the project to the satisfaction of all.
“…[P]lease review your decision of award of the contract for Super-Specialty Hospital and give a valuable chance to serve your country by awarding the contract to Fedders-Lloyd,” the company’s Whole-Time Director S.S Dhawan wrote in a letter the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health Leslie Cadogan yesterday.
The letter included the company’s assessment of the bidding and evaluation process—which prompted it to protest the decision—and it maintains its claims that there were irregularities in the bidding and evaluation process.
Government has accused Fedders-Lloyd of orchestrating a campaign against the work of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) committee, politicising the situation and that they had sought to influence the outcome of the process, in their favour, since the opening of the bids.
Fedders-Lloyd did not indicate if the same letter was sent to EXIM Bank of India in keeping with the vow by Vice President Naresh Chandra Soral, who said that a formal protest would be made there over the process that was used to award the US$18.18 million contract to Surendra Engineering. EXIM Bank of India is the bank responsible for the line of credit for the contract and it can undertake its own evaluations and advise government on how it wants to proceed.
Stabroek News tried contacting Cadogan for comment but he said that he was driving to Berbice and could not speak.
On June 26th, the bids of the five companies that had submitted tenders were opened. The bidders were: Fedders-Lloyd (US$17,679,000 after a 23% discount); Shapoorji Pallonji (US$42,473,600); Jaguar Overseas Limited (US$15,658,000) and the Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research of India (US$19.5 million); and Surendra Engineering (US$18,180,000).
In the letter, Dhawan noted that although it was clearly indicated that there would be no extension in the bid opening date of the tender after the original March 20, 2012 date passed, the dates were extended from April 17, 2012 to May 15, 2012 to June 26, 2012. “This violates the stipulation of International Competitive Bidding process,” he wrote.
He further maintained the company’s contention that Surendra Engineering should have been disqualified, saying that at the pre-bid meeting it was mentioned that the bank guarantee has to be submitted by an Indian bank and tender documents stated that the banking institution in India must have a corresponding financial institution in the employers country (Guyana) to make it enforceable.
At the bid opening, he said, “we noticed that the Bank Guarantee submitted by Surendra Engineering was on the Indian bank letterhead and it was never confirmed by any local bank in Guyana. This outrightly disqualifies Surendra Engineering and makes them a non-responsive bidder in the first place.”
Government, however, has said that the bid bond was raised officially at the pre-bid meeting and it was made clear that the bid bond was to be from a bank in India.
Dhawan also disputed the claim by officials that the company had quoted two prices, noting that in the tender documents it is clearly mentioned that the prices quoted by all the bidders would be calculated to absolute value on the basis of any and all the discount(s) offered by the respective bidders. “We have noticed that in various press reports during the last one week, various officials in the Ministry/Tender Committee are claiming that Fedders-Lloyd had quoted two prices, but as a matter of fact, and contrary to the above mentioned claims, during the tender opening, at the same time and moment, both our total price and the Discount Letter were read out, which clearly makes our price as a single financial bid and the lowest priced bid i.e. US$ 17,679,000,” he said.
Government has said that each bid must be “responsive” to “Administrative, Technical Capacity and Financial” criteria—in order of priority—before advancing to the next level of the evaluation. “The evaluators have not found that Fedders-Lloyd was substantially responsive to the set criteria,” it added in a statement on Tuesday.
In response to various statements of certain officials in the press that Fedders-Lloyd has been rejected on ‘Administrative Grounds,’ Dhawan said the company had never heard of any ‘Administrative Grounds’ aspect in International Competitive Bidding. “It is always the technical aspect or the financial aspect, and on both grounds, we feel that Fedders-Lloyd was ahead of Surendra Engineering,” he noted, while reiterating that Fedders-Lloyd had participated in the tender by forming a consortium with NOUS Hospital Consultants, which has expertise in building and commissioning specialised hospitals and has already commissioned more than 90 hospitals in India and abroad.
Dhawan also noted that Fedders-Lloyd has been conducting business activities in almost 30 countries around the globe in the sectors of education, health, agriculture and power, with an annual turnover of around US$700 million.
“This consortium is definitely a name to reckon with and clearly has enough expertise and experience to fulfill a contract of this magnitude to the complete satisfaction of all,” he noted, adding that the government’s description of it as “an air conditioning sales agent or being an over the counter drug salesman” undermines its stature as big business house.
