Wasteserv corrects reports of court criticism about waste-to energy plan tender adjudication process

Waste management company WasteServ has denied reports that the tender adjudication process for a waste-to-energy plant had been criticised in a recent appeals court decision. 

It was reported, yesterday, that a court had upheld an appeal filed by losing bidders Hitachi, overturning the decision to award a €600 million tender for a waste-to-energy plant, against the decision to award the tender to a consortium made up of French Company Paprec and local businessmen, Bonnici Brothers, after ruling that some members of the contracts department adjudicating panel had conflicts of interest, and ordering the evaluation process to start anew.

Some news outlets went on to report that the consortium had also complained about irregular procedures by the board, a claim which WasteServ rebutted on Saturday.

“The Court of Appeal’s judgement on the waste-to-energy plant tender did not take issue with the procedure adopted by WasteServ to rank bidders — which was greenlighted by the best international players in the field — but concentrated solely on what it deemed as perceived conflicts of interest within the Public Contracts Review Board, which heard the losing bidder’s appeal,” said the company.

A spokesperson for Wasteserv said: “It is unfortunate to note that even though the appellant actually dropped its main ground of appeal against the merits of Wasteserv’s adjudication process for the tender, sections of the media, have either misunderstood or are deliberately misconstruing the court decision so they can cast WasteServ in a bad light.”

“WasteServ condemns such destructive behaviour, which seems solely intended to further stall and destabilise its efforts to deliver a vital infrastructural project in the hope that a losing consortium — with an offer that would have cost taxpayers €200 million more — will get a second chance.

The company insisted that the adjudication had been carried out “in full transparency and with the assistance of a world-leading consultancy in solid waste management (COWI A/S), while also relying on an extra layer of quality assurance through the use of an independent UK-based firm (Frith Resource Management) that confirmed the recommendation of award.”

It added that this could “be easily verified by anyone interested in the truth.”

WasteServ said that in its concluding assessment, British consultancy firm Frith Resource Management had concurred with WasteServ’s decision and said “the procurement has been undertaken in a timely, efficient and equitable manner”, confirming the recommendation to award the multi-million project to Paprec Energies International – BBL Malta at a bid price of €600 million.

“At no point did the Court of Appeal question the detailed technical or financial scoring of WasteServ’s adjudication process. The Court, however, annulled the Public Contracts Review Board decision on grounds of perceived conflict of interest,” said the company.

“WasteServ remains committed to continue driving Malta’s environmental transition, and no false claim or malicious accusation will deter it from delivering a better environmental future.”