Minister Austin Gatt yesterday invited opposition spokesman Leo Brincat to nominate three people to form part of the panel adjudicating the computers tender offers, and also communicated with the GRTU on the same subject.

The government tender, worth millions of liri, for computers for the public sector and government schools, has been a bone of contention since it was made public, with the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) saying the tender will bankrupt small companies in the IT sector, and Mr Brincat, his party’s foreign affairs and information technology spokesman, charging that many thought that the computer tender was drawn up in a way to suit Nationalist Party supporters in the sector.

Mr Brincat said in his latest statement that Investments, Industry and IT Minister Gatt knew better than he who the Nationalist Party’s financial backers were. Everyone was entitled to submit offers under the tender conditions, but these conditions were such that only a very few could meet all of them. And recently there had been changes to the specifications, which led to the commercial community suspecting that the changes had been made to suit a few.

It did not make sense to accuse him, Mr Brincat said, of wanting outdated technology, or of preferring the old Gozo Channel vessels. He had mentioned the ferry-boats because of the way the transaction had been conducted by a board of directors who included people who were very close to the PN.

The minister was also pathetic to accuse the Labour Party of being against modern technology in informatics, as much as when he said the MLP was against disadvantaged people acquiring computers at favourable prices.

Replying to Mr Brincat, Dr Gatt said the view that the conditions had been drawn up to suit some people did not do justice to the officials who would be evaluating the offers. The process was transparent and to further assure him of this, Dr Gatt wrote, he invited Mr Brincat to nominate three people whom Mr Brincat could trust to take part in all the committees involved in selecting the successful bidders – the technical evaluation committee, the central evaluation committee and the selection committee.

Dr Gatt gave Mr Brincat until next Wednesday to give him the names.

Dr Gatt was also in communication with the GRTU, which has been against the contract since it was announced. The GRTU’s president, Paul Abela wrote that their main argument was that the tender effectively excluded the majority of Maltese SMEs, which was against the government’s commitment to support EU policies on SMEs.

The computer systems tender, Mr Abela added, effectively breached all points which public authorities should avoid if public procurement was to become more SME-friendly.

The tender should be suspended and the GRTU was prepared to meet the minister even at short notice “but we cannot have conditions imposed on us as to how to compose our delegation.”

The GRTU said it was also communicating with the Prime Minister on this subject.

Dr Gatt replied that the ministry had checked procurement regulations and was unanimous that no regulations were being breached. The minister then listed various conditions in the tender which, he argued, favoured SMEs, not worked against them.

Apparently referring to the point made about the composition of the GRTU delegation, Dr Gatt said several members of the GRTU committee had an interest in changing the terms of the tender to suit themselves, and he expressed surprise that the GRTU expected persons who had a direct interest in a tender to have a say in drawing up the specifications of that tender. That, he assured the GRTU, would certainly be in contravention of EU regulations and local legislation.