360MW plant bidders object to calls to scrap process
Published:Wednesday | October 16, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
The third- and fourth-ranked bidders for the proposed 360-megawatt power plant have indicated that they are not in support of a call by influential private-sector and civil-society stakeholder groups to scrap the entire bid process.
Persons close to Energize Jamaica and Optimal Limited told The Gleaner last night that while they understand the position taken by the stakeholder groups, "we don't see why we should be at fault for a weak process".
"It is not necessary to restart the process if you negotiate with the credible bidders," explained one person close to both entities, after they outlined their position in a joint statement sent to The Gleaner late yesterday.
The statement came hours after the stakeholder groups, led by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica and the Jamaica Civil Society Coalition, declared they have lost confidence in the bidding process for the power plant, which is a critical part of the Government's plan to reduce the country's energy cost.
As a result, the groups, which also include the Jamaica Exporters' Association and the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA), want the bid process aborted and restarted from scratch.
They conceded that this would further delay the project, but argued that it would be better to "make the tough call now" rather than wait to find out that it cannot be completed or will not deliver the promised electricity savings.
"We just don't have the confidence in the process," insisted JMA President Brian Pengelley.
"Every day we are seeing more and more information that raises more and more questions," he said.
It was the same argument advanced in a joint statement issued yesterday by the stakeholder groups, which also included the Micro Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Alliance.
CAUSE FOR CONCERN
At the centre of their concerns, the groups said, were the issues raised by the Office of the Contractor General about the bidding process and reports this week that the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) announced the final bid ranking eight days before receiving the final evaluation report from consultants Mott McDonald.
"The groups concluded that very little substance has been offered by the OUR to satisfactorily address both the raft of questions surrounding the management of the tender exercise and the reputational issues now facing the preferred bidder," the stakeholders asserted in their statement.
"We consider this the tipping point, which can lead us to take no other position than to call for the process to be aborted," the statement continued.
While disagreeing with the stakeholder groups, Energize Jamaica and Optical Limited said they remained concerned about the "less-than-smooth administration of the selection process to date".
"We believe that the evaluation process has fallen short on critical analysis and underweighted an assessment of the credibility of the claims of bidders," both bidders asserted.
"We have submitted credible, bankable bids," they insisted.
Last month, the OUR selected the consortium of Azurest-Cambridge as the preferred bidder for the project.
However, the failure by the consortium to come up with the bid bond of US$6.9 million caused the OUR to move to the next bidder in line, Energy World International (EWI).
In a report released last month, the Office of the Contractor General raised several concerns about EWI's inclusion on the process.
Last night, The Gleaner was unable to reach representatives of either Azurest-Cambridge or EWI for comment.