HCM tender contract set aside

THE Municipal Bid Appeals Tribunal has upheld the appeal against the awarding of a tender accepted by Hibiscus Coast Municipality.

The three-year contract, for general motor and electrical repairs and towing services for the municipality’s fleet of vehicles, was awarded in December 2012.

Three parties, Melody Hills Trading 112cc, t/a Clive Lee Engineering and Mechanical Repairs, MJ Light and Heavy Duty Repairs and Zindla Ekhaya Auto CC, submitted tender documents.

Tenders closed on November 12, 2012 and the contract was awarded to Zindla Ekhaya Auto CC and MJ Light and Heavy Duty Repairs.

According to papers submitted to the Tribunal by the appellant Melody Hills, prior to the close of tenders, the second respondent MJ Light had contacted  HCM’s Community Services Department and informed them that certain errors had been made on the document and requested blank copies of the pages on which the errors had been made.

This request was granted.

The tenders were publicly opened by two HCM staff members and were submitted to the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC).

According to Melody Trading, its tender complied with all the requirements, however, the BEC recommended that the bid be excluded as its ‘price was too high’.

It also suggested that MJ Light be excluded as pages four and seven of the documents, which dealt with pricing, had been tampered with.

In December 2012, the committee awarded the tender to MJ Light for those portions that related to the provision of general motor repairs during normal business hours at a rate of R140 per hour.

The after hours portion was awarded to Zindla Ekhaya Auto CC at the rate of R228 per hour.

The committee noted there was also possible tampering of pages by MJ Light as the pages were different from those of the other bidders and were disqualified.

Zindla Ekhaya Auto CC was then awarded the contract for work within normal business hours at the rate of R200 per hour.

Melody Hills Trading questioned the lack of an investigation into the alleged irregularities during the tender process and the allegations of alleged tampering of the tender documents submitted by MJ Light. Melody Hills submitted that the tender should have been disqualified.

The company also submitted that no qualified diesel mechanic was employed by MJ Light which had stated otherwise in its tender documents.

Johannes Hendricks Barnard Wiese, whose certificate was submitted by  MJ Light explained that his certificate had been stolen and used in the tender documents.

He works as a car guard and is currently stationed in the Port Shepstone CBD. He denied having been employed by MJ Light and said the matter had been referred to the police for investigation.

It was alleged that the Zindla Ekhaya Auto CC was engaged in price fixing with two other bidders, both of which had submitted certificates of diesel mechanics who were never employed by either company.

The South Coast Herald is in possession of the documents that were certified by attorneys and accountants without the deponents being present.

It appears from the documents that the entire bid by both bidders was fraudulent and flawed.

Spokesman for Hibiscus Coast Municipality Khanyiso Seyisi said the contract has been set aside as per the tribunal decision. “The municipality is seeking legal opinion on action to be taken against these service providers who have submitted fraudulent documents to the municipality,” said Mr Seyisi.

He added that the matter pertaining to the staff members will be part of the investigation to be undertaken and the outcome of the investigation will determine whether to charge him or not.

“It must be noted that unsuccessful bidders are allowed by the legislation to object if they are not happy about the outcome of the process,” he said.