Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has defended high value direct orders issued by various government ministries exceeding €10,000 saying that it is the National Audit Office's job to investigate what it thinks are breaches in the rules, which is does at the end of each year.
He also added that there is oversight coming from the Department of Contracts and should they have seen any actions in breach of regulations, the DOC would have raised a red flag.
The Prime Minister gave assurances that everything will be made public, and pressed on whether he would issue an investigation to ascertain that no rules were breached, he questioned why government should be doing work carried out by the National Audit Office.
"An investigation happens each year. The NAO does a review of all departments. It issues a report – direct orders and procurements, we are the first government which does not shelve the report. The Auditor General said that above 90 per cent of its previous recommendations have been observed. The NAO will continue to do this work."
Since Parliament resumed after the Christmas recess, a series of parliamentary questions have been made by Opposition MPs asking various ministries about the amounts spent on direct orders.
A direct order is when a government entity or ministry unilaterally decides to award a contract to a particular company or service provider without issuing a public call for expression and surveying the various bids.
There are exceptions at law providing for such, for example if one particular company is the only one on the market available to offer a particular service. There are other 'exceptional circumstances' that provide for the allowance of direct orders. Apart from this, any contract upwards of €10,000 must go through the Department of Contracts.
A series of parliamentary questions covered by this newsroom and all other independent media show how several entities within the Office of the Prime Minister issued direct orders worth more than €5 million in 2017.
An IT contract was awarded to a particular company without a call for expression work €880,000 by Corradino Correctional Facility.
Some €800,000 worth of contracts by direct orders were awarded to unknown companies in a very short period of time. The name of the company was kept withheld under some clause providing for secrecy in certain circumstances.
In addition, media reports show how €11 million was issued to Wasteserv, the waste company at the centre of employment allegations, over the past three years via direct orders.
This article will be updated shortly
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2FHgQ1a
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment