PHILIPSBURG: --- Minister of VROMI Egbert Doran said at the Council of Ministers press briefing that the procurement for the solid waste contracts has come to an end. Doran said 5 contractors were awarded 5-year contracts for the period 2021 to 2026, these contractors will begin their work on April 1st, 2021.
The Minister said that the procurement was publicly tendered on February 2nd 2021since the current contracts will be coming to an end on March 31st. Doran explained that the ministry prepared new multi-annual contracts that will cover the duration of the 5-year contracts that were awarded for the period 2021 to 2026. He said that the original 8 parcels have been reorganized to 7 parcels so that it can be better managed.’
The Minister said contrary to the past several improvements were made to the bidding process where stringent rules were introduced for the tender process. One such change he said that contractors that entered into the bidding had to provide their business license and chamber of commerce registration that clearly shows that their businesses reflect the scope of work which in this case was solid waste and or garbage collection.
Doran said the entire bidding process was set in stone prior to the tender process which had to be strictly adhered to and no alterations were made during the bidding process. He assured that all matters were handled reliably and with integrity.
Asked to comment on the concerns expressed by Independent Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel in a press release. Doran said it was brought to his attention by the department of VROMI whereby persons that had business licenses for car garages, and even hair salons were allowed to participate in the bidding process. He said this time around those persons could not participate in the bidding process unless their business license stated that they are involved in the scope of work that was being tendered such as garbage or waste collection.
Doran made clear that he believes that changes are inevitable especially as the country moves forward. He said everyone including the government learned from their mistakes, the Minister said the last time several companies underbid and that was not in the best interest of the government or the company. Doran said because of that a compliance range was introduced, those that bid over the compliance then are considered overbid or if they were under the range then those companies were underbid, this he said was a safeguarding system in place because he said when companies underbid the companies run into problems because they lack funds for day to day operations.
As of March 31st, 2021, the current contracts for the island-wide solid waste collection program will be coming to an end.
In accordance with article 47 of the National Accountability Ordinance "Comptabiliteit Landsverordening", the procurement of services was publicly tendered on February 2nd, 2021, for the services of collection and transportation of solid waste to continue throughout the various districts. The Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure, (Ministry of VROMI) has prepared new multi-annual contracts to cover these services. The new contracts will commence on April 1st, 2021, and will last for five (5) years, ending on March 31st, 2026.
Contrary to the past, improvements were made, where stringent rules were introduced for the tender process. For example, business licenses of the prospective contractors needed to reflect the scope of works tendered, which in this case includes solid waste management/garbage collection and/or other relevant waste cleaning/removal services.
Considerations from the previous years have been taken into account and where necessary, reflected into the new scope of works, so that the Government can achieve a cleaner Sint Maarten.
To better manage the execution of the works, and to attain a more efficient work performance in the districts, the original eight (8) parcels have been reorganized into seven (7) parcels.
The Terms of Reference (ToR), along with the minutes of the meeting and addendum, form the basis of what contractors used to formulate their bidding package, which was legally vetted.
In an effort to allow companies to qualify for participation in the tender, a bank guarantee was not requested as a prerequisite from the list of required documents. It was decided that after the signing and awarding of contracts, companies would be given thirty (30) days to submit a performance guarantee by a registered bank.
As stated in the terms of reference and in the information meeting, non-compliance with the required documentation would result in the disqualification of the relevant participating companies. Businesses must adhere to the rules and regulations of any Government tender, as this involves public funds and should always be handled to a high standard.
The entire bidding process was set in stone before the acceptance of any bid packages and no alterations were made after the bids were submitted. This ensured that all matters were handled reliably and with integrity.
On February 2nd, 2021, bids were received from prospective contractors. During the tender session, the packages were opened in the presence of the prospective contractors and relevant staff of the Ministry, and prices of submitted bids were read aloud in light of transparency.
The evaluation of this tender consisted of two (2) parts, namely, the technical evaluation of the received bids and the pricing evaluation. The technical evaluation of the bids consisted of assessing the completeness of tender documents, experience, and key personnel, detailed scheduling of waste collection, and their preliminary work plan.
The pricing evaluation was based on an internal cost with a compliancy range which was predetermined before receiving the bids from contractors. The compliancy range consisted of a minimum and maximum pricing to avoid companies from underbidding as was done in the past, which could lead to inefficiency in the execution of services.
Once the evaluation process was completed, the Department of Infrastructure compiled the information and based thereon, presented the advice to the Minister of VROMI for approval. Based on the compliancy of tender bids and accumulation of points, five (5) companies were awarded contracts for the collection of solid waste for seven (7) parcels. The awarding advice for the Collection of Solid Waste 2021-2026 was approved by the Council of Ministers and the Governor with very little to no remarks due to proper procedures being followed.
Minister Egbert Doran, signed the contracts on March 11th, 2021, which as previously mentioned, will commence on April 1st, 2021. The Ministry has made their high expectations known to the contractors in holding up their side of the agreement and the contractors ensured that they are committed to keeping Sint Maarten clean.
Now that the tender has been officially finalized, communications will be going out from the Ministry of VROMI to all the participants, thanking them for their participation and formally informing them of the outcome.
The Minister stated that it is a priority to hire two additional contract managers to assist with the workload in ensuring that companies adhere to the agreed-upon obligations.
Congratulations are extended to the companies that were successful in winning the tender. The Minister would like to encourage companies to make it a best practice to actively update their documentation and place emphasis on ensuring that they are in line with requirements for future participation in tenders.
Lastly, the Minister stated once again, that he has high exceptions from these companies and looks forward to a cleaner Sint Maarten.
