26
ISLAMABAD: An Austrian company has challenged a decision by Wapda to award a Rs10 billion contract for the procurement of six turbine generators for the Mangla dam refurbishment project to a French rival.
The authority has formed a three-member committee to decide the case.
The committee was due to hold its first meeting on Friday, but rescheduled it to Sept 19 on a request by the complainant.
Wapda awarded the contract to Alstom Hydro, a French company, last week.
A spokesman for the authority, in written replies to queries made by Dawn, confirmed that an appeal filed by one of the bidders had been referred to Wapda’s grievance committee (WGC). “The matter is being processed in accordance with the provisions of PPRA — Rules 2004,” he added.
He said WGC had invited the aggrieved bidder on Sept 9, but on a request by the complainant, the proceedings had been rescheduled to Sept 19.
Four firms had submitted bids for the project in September last year. They were Alstom Hydro of France, Voith Hydro of Germany, Andritz Hydro of Austria and OJSC Power Machines of Russia. The Russian firm did not submit security deposit along with its bid, leaving the three others to compete for the project funded by USAID and Wapda.
However, Andritz Hydro was unhappy with Wapda’s decision to award the contract to Alstom Hydro and filed an appeal before the WGC.
A letter written to the Wapda chairman by the head of Andritz Hydro said: “Please find appended herewith a complaint on behalf of Andritz Hydro GmbH, Ravensburg and Andritz Hydro GmbH, Vienna, the joint venture that bid for the Mangla Refurbishment Project for Packages l&Vll-Turbine Generators Units 1-6. This is to be submitted before the Grievance Committee of WAPDA, formed under Rule 48 of the Public Procurement Rules, 2004.”
Wapda has been accused of entertaining the lowest bidder — French firm Alstom Hydro — despite its alleged links with a company recently indicted for bribery and falsification of records by a US court.
In November last year, a federal judge in the US state of Connecticut had ordered Alstom SA, a French company, to pay a fine of $772.3 million for bribery. The fine was the largest yet levied in the United States in a bribery case involving a foreign firm.
Under the rules, any firm that has been debarred, blacklisted or sanctioned by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and international agencies like World Bank, Asian Development Bank or European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is not eligible for award of any contract.
One of the anomalies observed in the bidding process was that all bidders were bound to conduct two separate tests (for 1-4 and 5-6) of rehabilitation of turbine generators. Although the French firm carried out just one test, its bid was accepted.
Transparency International has also disapproved of the decision in favour of Alstom Hydro.
The Wapda spokesman, defending the award of the contract, said a mere imposition of fine and payment of damages did not amount to blacklisting of any entity.
The spokesmen said there was no evidence that any national or international agency had debarred M/s Alstom on the basis of imposition of fine by a US court last year.
“After probing all related aspects and clarifying the status, Wapda approved the acceptance of lowest responsive bid of M/s Alstom Hydro France,” he added.
He said that according to the design features contained in M/s Alstom’s bid, one turbine model test was provided while cost of the second model test was given in the schedule of optional items. “Wapda opted to include the second model test in the scope of work. This decision is in line with normal procedures and hence no change has been made after opening of bids.”
Published in Dawn September 10th, 2016
