The representative of the suppliers of computer equipment to the government objected to quality standards being applied to the computers in question.

This was stated in a long reply tabled by Industry, Investments and IT Minister Austin Gatt to a question from Labour MP Leo Brincat.

Mr Brincat wanted to know why there had been problems with such a high percentage of the computers purchased by the e-procurement system.

Dr Gatt replied that the e-procurement framework, published by CIMU in 2004, laid down clear principles the government expected from the suppliers chosen by this scheme: it was always intended that the computers and their processes would be of the highest standard.

Every supplier was asked to sign a declaration of conformance to make clear that he intended to abide by these standards. The framework also enabled the government to carry out ad hoc inspections to ensure that the items supplied by the suppliers conformed to these conditions.

Dr Gatt added that, right from the start, the e-procurement administration had begun to receive complaints from procurement officers and IMOs – complaints that continued after MITTS was called in to replace CIMU. At a meeting held last August, the MITTS representative on the Performance Monitoring Board said there were still many serious defects in the computers that had been delivered to the government departments and this situation could no longer be tolerated.

The suppliers’ representative on the board objected to suppliers having to conform to quality standards such as ISO or equivalent. These standards were required by the framework conditions and each supplier had signed that he agreed to abide by them. But since the suppliers’ representative had objected to the imposition of these standards, Dr Gatt added, CIMU had agreed not to enforce them, provided that the computers and the services provided were of the highest quality.

Since the suppliers’ representative continued to object to the introduction of quality standards as listed in the framework, it was decided that, with immediate effect, inspections would be carried out on the computers and laptops sold to the departments.

Two inspections had since been carried out, the results of which had been communicated to the suppliers. The results of yet another inspection are still being finalised.

No action has been taken against any company but those companies whose computers were found to be not in accordance with the established quality had been warned that unless they improved their position, they may be barred from participating in further calls.

All the suppliers who had participate in e-procurement had been asked to conduct a self-audit of all the computers they have provided for the government from 1 September 2006 to date, Dr Gatt added.