The Ministry for Health spent close to €7 million over five direct orders, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne revealed.

Replying to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi, Fearne provided figures which indicated that the Ministry of Health spent €1,626,883 on the servicing and maintenance of chillers at Mater Dei Hospital; €1,050,000 on the service; €1,000,100 on the supply of medicine and vials; a further €980,000 on the supply of vials; and €2,279,939 on the supply of Etanercopt pre-filled pens.

Direct orders have been at the centre of debate within parliament after a separate parliamentary question (also asked by Azzopardi) revealed that SportMalta, which falls under the remit of Parliamentary Secretary for Sport Clifton Grima, issued two direct orders amounting to roughly €5 million related to the Shooting Range at Ta’ Kandja, which brought stinging criticism from the Opposition bench.

PN Leader Adrian Delia has insisted that these direct orders would be in a breach of regulations given that payments that exceeded €120,000 needed to be awarded according to an established tendering procedure.

More information tabled in Parliament by Environment Minister Jose Herrera shows that the ministry had awarded over €11 million for three direct orders related to waste management

Six entities that fall under the responsibility of the Office of the Prime Minister (the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), the Malta Communications Authority (MCA), the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) and Identity Malta) also issued direct orders worth over €5 million in the space of just over a year.

The Transport Ministry, on the other hand, spent €2.8 million over a little more than a year (12 December 2016 – 18 January 2018).

 

What are the special criteria for large direct orders?                                                       

Last year controversy had erupted over a direct order issued by the prison for the procurement of an IT system. The DO was worth €880,000.

At the time Finance Minister Edward Scicluna had said that there were instances when direct orders of a certain amount could be justified under certain conditions, such as urgent deadlines. “In normal circumstances, contracts of such value should go through the Contracts Department. If this does not happen, whoever was responsible for the decision must be held to account,” he had said.

A Public Procurement policy note issued by the Department of Contracts last June referred to a 2013 policy which “was issued with the intent to limit the use of the Direct Order procedure to the barest minimum and concurrently highlight the circumstances when this procedure may be used.”

These circumstances are:

a) When no tenders or no suitable tenders or no applications have been submitted in response to an open procedure;

b) When for technical or artistic reasons, or for reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights, the services may be provided only by a particular economic operator;

c) Where the contract concerned is awarded subsequent to a design contest and must be awarded to the successful candidate or to one of the successful candidates;

d) In so far as is strictly necessary, when the time-limits for open, restricted or negotiated procedures referred to in the Public Procurement Regulations cannot be respected for reasons of extreme urgency occasioned by unforeseeable events. The circumstances invoked to justify urgency must not be attributable to the contracting authority;

e) In so far as is strictly necessary, for additional supplies, services and/or works not included in the project initially considered or in the contract first concluded but which have, through unforeseen circumstances, become necessary for the performance of the service or works or supplies described therein, on condition that the award is made to the economic operator executing the contract.

The same policy states that: “Where the estimated value meets or exceeds five thousand euro (€5,000), but does not exceed ten thousand euro (€10,000), the supplies, works or services may be procured departmentally either after obtaining quotations through government’s e-procurement platform or through a direct contract at the discretion of the Head of the Contracting Authority, taking into consideration the amount involved, the urgency attached to the procurement or restrictions of choice and availability.

In exceptional circumstances, following the prior written approval of the Minister responsible for that Contracting Authority, who may delegate his authority in writing to the Permanent Secretary or any other senior official in his Ministry, a Direct Contract may be issued by the Direct Orders Office, for the direct procurement of public works/services/supplies with an estimated value ranging between €10,000 and €134,999.99.”