Jan 07 - Number Six: Opposition Have Ended Up With Egg On Their Faces Over Varyl Begg Contract Award

Written by YGTV Team on 07 January 2015.

Number Six has said that the Opposition do not seem to remember that the allocation of Government contracts is limited to the Approved Contractor List on the terms and conditions introduced by the GSD themselves when they were in Government. This, says the Government, remains unchanged.

It is therefore the “height of political hypocrisy” according to the Government, that the Opposition should now complain about the allocation of works to parts of Varyl Begg Estate under this system. The companies invited to submit quotations for Government work are those who were on the list in 2011 or those who have joined the list since then, explains a Government statement.

In this instance, three contactors from the list were invited to submit a quote for the works at Varyl Begg Estate. The works were allocated to the lowest quote which was from Bizzy Bee Ltd, says the Government adding that there may be instances when the work does not go to the lowest tenderer, for example, if their work has been sub-standard in the past.

However, in this instance, the Government repeats, the works at Varyl Begg Estate were awarded to the lowest tenderer.

Given that the Approved Contractor List was put in place by the GSD when in Government, “it is very peculiar”, says Number Six, to learn that they now consider that the process needs to be made more “resilient, open and transparent”, but that they considered that the system was indeed “resilient, open and transparent” enough while they were in power.

A statement released this afternoon concludes:

“Moreover, they can rest assured that applicants for Government work do not have to declare who they support or who they will vote for. Indeed, there are many loyal Opposition supporters out there, whose loyalty we respect, who will be able to vouch for the tenders, contracts, consultancies and other Government work that they have been awarded since 9 December 2011.

“Once again the Opposition have ended up with egg on their faces.”