http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/lucrative-state-contracts-scrapped-in-tendering-row-35066140.html
21/09/16
Lucrative State contracts scrapped in tendering row
Three
tender processes for contracts worth millions of euros for translation services
in the justice system have been cancelled in the past 13 months following
complaints by a bidder.
The tenders, with a combined estimated value
of between €7.5m and €9m, were scrapped following rows over the selection
processes used.
One of the bidders alleged flaws in how the
competitions were run, claiming it was not selected despite offering a cheaper
service than rivals.
The contracts on offer were to provide
interpretation or translations services for An Garda SÃochána, the Courts
Service, the HSE, the Immigration Service, the Legal Aid Board, Department of
Social Protection, Department of Justice and the Prison Services.
However, three tender processes collapsed
following challenges by Word Perfect Translation Services Ltd, a company run by
Albanian-born businessman Jimmy Gashi with offices in Dublin and Cork.
In two instances, the company issued High
Court proceedings.
Both the Office of Government Procurement
(OGP), which ran two of the tenders, and An Garda SÃochána, which ran the
third, have denied any impropriety.
Correspondence seen by the Irish Independent
shows the latest tender, to provide interpretation services for the Legal Aid
Board and the Immigration Service, was cancelled on August 31.
This happened a day after Mr Gashi's company
initiated High Court proceedings against the Minister for Public Expenditure
and Reform after it was an unsuccessful bidder.
Mr Gashi claims it was submitting the lowest
bid and should have been selected.
A letter issued by Chief State Solicitor
Eileen Creedon, acting for the OGP, confirmed the cancellation of the
competition.
She said the reasons for the decision would
be issued later and that the legal proceedings issued by Word Perfect were
"premature" and should be withdrawn.
A previous request for tenders issued by the
OGP, which would have involved translation services being awarded to a number
of companies, was also scrapped in August last year after Word Perfect raised
concerns over how it was conducted.
In a letter issued at the time, Ms Creedon
said: "Our clients totally refute allegations accusing [them] of doing
anything unlawful or applying award criteria which was not published in the
request for tender."
She said the decision was taken "to
avoid unnecessary costs and further delay with regard to the provision of the
services required".
In 2015, Word Perfect took High Court
proceedings against the Garda Commissioner, after the force awarded a contract
for interpretation services to a number of rivals.
It failed to secure a number of injunctions
sought as part of the proceedings.
However, the gardaà decided that November to
cancel the tender competition, saying it would allow the OGP conduct a
competition for the services instead.
An Garda SÃochána's executive director of
finance and services, Michael Culhane, said in a letter that the force had concluded
public resources ought not be spent defending the tender process when OGP was
conducting another tender.
