The Cospicua Local Council has been ordered to restart the adjudication process to award a contract for street cleaning after a court found that the contractor chosen by the council paid its employees less than the minimum wage.

The appeals court upheld a Contracts Revision Board decision and said the council should not contract those who do not meet requirements. The process should be restarted and only the valid bids should be considered.

Raymond Attard had won the Local Council contract with very low rates, but V&A Services Ltd had appealed and insisted that, with such low rates, the winning bidder could not possibly resort to precarious employment.

V&A’s appeal was upheld by the Contracts Revision Board but the company disagreed with the recommendation for a new call and filed another appeal claiming the board should have ordered the exclusion of the bidders that did not meet the requirements.

Raymond Attard said he was not yet informed of the new directives on precarious employment and said the board had been right to annul the bid so that a new process could be launched.

On the other hand, the Cospicua Local Council said precarious work did not mean paying less than the minimum wage but rather not giving job security to employees for an indefinite period of time.

The court revoked the recommendation to issue a fresh call for tenders and ordered the council to eliminate bidders that did not meet the requirements and continue the adjudication of the contract with those that did.