Nexia BT consultant Manuel Castagna has replied to comments made by Opposition Leader Adrian Delia after a court sitting related to a case Delia filed on the transfer of three hospitals to the private sector.
Castagna said that Evaluation and Adjudication committee was not responsible for the negotiation of the agreement between Vitals and the government.
Delia said that “no due diligence” had been carried out by the Evaluation and Adjudication Committee on the company Vitals Global Healthcare prior to the procurement of the highly controversial deal that saw the privatisation of three of Malta's public hospitals.
Castagna wrote: “I would like to clarify that, as a member of the Evaluation and Adjudication committee, I stated in court that the committee adhered to the remit imposed on it by the Request for Proposals (rfp) issued by Projects Malta.
“In line with the rfp, the committee evaluated the bids submitted, with that of Vitals being the only compliant bid, and then scored the compliant bid against pre-determined parameters.
“As required by the rfp, the committee declared Vitals the preferred bidder on the merits of the bid. The committee was not responsible for or involved in negotiating the agreement with the preferred bidder, drafting of the concession agreement, or monitoring of the concession.”