Court overturns cancellation of Portelli €55m Ras Ħanżir tender

A Court of Appeal has overturned the cancellation of the Ras Ħanżir cargo facility contract won by Gozitan mega-developer Joseph Portelli, despite tendering an offer €18 million cheaper than an aggrieved bidder.

His bid to take over the oil depot and build a cargo was thwarted by a successful appeal by Bonnici Bros’s consortium NQuay-MT.

In January 2022, the public contracts review tribunal overturned the contracting authority’s decision to award the cargo facility tender to Portelli’s consortium Excel Sis for €55.4 million.

NQuay-MT was the cheapest bidder at €37.5 million, but was disqualified on the grounds that their bid was, administratively, not compliant. As the second cheapest bidder, Excel Sis won the tender with an offer of €55.4 million.

But the Appeals Court felt that NQuay-MT’s bid had indeed not been administratively compliant, that the company had not satisfactorily replied to a rectification request, nor replied to a clarification request as requested at law. “It is clear that this consortium was not in conformity with the administrative, technical and financial requisites of the call for tender,” Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti said.

Bidders were originally required to present a list of completed works, with start and end dates for works. NQuay-MT presented a date of completion, but Infrastructure Malta argued this was not enough to establish completion dates. NQuay-MT argued the self-declaration was in line with EU Public Procurement Directives.

The PCRB itself noted that the wording of the tender had been somewhat misleading, pointing out to Infrastructure Malta that the ambiguity of the tender dossier should have been resolved through a simple explanation.

The new wharf for cargo will be built at the Ras Ħanżir area in Paola, a project partially funded by €24 million in EU Cohesion Funds. Once completed, the project will enrich the efficiency of Grand Harbour and increase the space for the mooring of Ro-Ro ships. The wharf will have an area of about 28,000 square metres, equivalent to four football grounds. This will also serve for the increased mooring of vessels of up to 300 metres in length and nine metres wide.