Wednesday, May 27 2009

On May 24 in Sunday Newsday, a story headlined “Calder Hart/Sunway linked in Uff inquiry”, made references to a report prepared by chartered quantity surveyor Derek Outridge on behalf of consultancy firm QES & Associates Ltd.

The article stated: “Outridge went on to recommend that CH Development be awarded the contract on the basis that the two lower bidders would have workload difficulty.” The two lower bidders were Hafeez Karamath Limited (HKL) and Johnson International Limited (JIL). We wish to clarify that Outridge did not recommend CH Development for the contract.

What Outridge said in his tender evaluation report was: “We recommend that the selection of a contractor for the award of this contract be finalised upon: (a) the receipt of technical evaluations from the engineers, (b) Udecott being satisfied with HKL’s and JIL’s current workload at the time of the award of this contract.”

The report also noted the contract would be a “significant undertaking” for either HKL or JIL and not that they would have “workload difficulty”.

We wish to clarify a report on May 12 in Newsday which was an exclusive story of a letter dated April 30, 2009 from the Uff Commission secretary sent to Udecott’s attorneys.

The letter set out the matters which the Commission of Inquiry in the light of evidence, submissions and addresses so far received could amount to criticism of Udecott. Udecott was notified of these matters which included among other things failures of procurement matters, failure to comply with rules, free and fair competition and integrity and transparency.

Unfortunately the report in Newsday gave the impression that it was the Commission that was making the criticism of Udecott. We wish to clarify that it was not the UFF Commission that made charges against Udecott but the various witnesses who had appeared before the Commission.