The Malta Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) is exploring the possibility of taking the ICT tender issue before the European Court, claiming that although the tender was, strictly speaking, within the parameters of the law, it would adversely affect small and medium businesses.

A day after the court turned down its application for a warrant of prohibitory injunction to halt the government from awarding the ICT tender for 28,000 computer systems, understood to be worth in the region of Lm10 million, the GRTU said the decision to award this five-year contract was a “dangerous, pre-election move without any logical strategy, commercial or economical.”

In a statement, the GRTU said the decision to continue with the tendering process would please no one except the few who would be benefiting from the awarding of such a contract.

It said that this contract would completely remove the possibility that anyone else, apart from those five which bid for the tender, would be able to supply computers to the public sector.

The GRTU said there were 51 companies that qualified to supply the public sector with computers and the servicing of computers.

It said that the court decision – which declared that whatever was done was done within the parameters of the law – did not

mean that this behaviour was correct.

The GRTU said it would continue opposing the awarding of this tender and that it expected the Malta Labour Party to declare that if it won the next general election, it would stop the awarding of the contract and drop it if found to be awarded already.