By Caswell Tlali
MASERU — Iris Corporation (Iris), a Malaysian firm that hosted a private dinner for Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili and his entourage during his state visit to that country in May, has had its bid to make Identity Documents (IDs) for Lesotho disqualified.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation — Lesotho Authority (MCA-Lesotho)’s Independent Appeals Panel disqualified Iris’ bid on July 25 following a complaint by the second highest scoring bidder, Gemalto SA.
Iris was leading the race for the multi-million maloti ID tender after it scored 100 percent on financial evaluation and 88.88 percent on technical evaluation.
Its average score was 88.85 percent, making it the best bidder for the project which is estimated to be worth M105 million.
But its grip on the tender started crumbling when Gemalto SA, which was second in the run with 88.57 percent average score, lodged a complaint on June 22.
Muhlbauer Technologies and Morpho were the other shortlisted bidders.
Gemalto’s main reason for appealing against the tender result was that Iris had hosted Mosisili and his delegation during the prime minister’s state visit to Malaysia from May 4 to 7.
Gemalto accused Iris of violating procurement guidelines and “fraudulently” attempting “to influence the evaluation process of the procurement.”
Iris became number one in the race for the supply of Lesotho’s national IDs 20 days after its chief executive officer Say Jim Tan hosted Mosisili and his delegation at a dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on May 5.
On May 6 Mosisili and his delegation spent about an hour touring Iris’ offices where they were also briefed on the company’s technologies in the areas of identification system, farming, desalination and housing.
The shortlisted companies were informed of the financial and technical evaluation results on May 27.
When Gemalto SA first lodged their complaint MCA-Lesotho rejected the allegations that Iris could have influenced the bidding process when it hosted the prime minister and his delegation.
MCA-Lesotho boss, Sophia Mohapi, wrote to Gemalto SA saying its complaint was invalid because it had been lodged well after the prescribed period required for bidders to appeal against their tender results.
“The claim was not filed in accordance with the provisions of Section 4 of the Bid Challenge System as it was filed outside the time prescribed therein which is within five days of the claimant knowing or could reasonably be expected to know of the breach,” reads Mohapi’s response to Gemalto SA’s appeal.
“Your claim was filed on the 22nd June 2011, but you were aware of the alleged breach as early as the 3rd June 2011”.
Mohapi said: “MCA-Lesotho went to the merits of the case and has determined that there was no attempt made by Iris to fraudulently influence the evaluation process for the procurement of the MSSP by its alleged actions of hosting a group of Lesotho government delegates on the 6th May 2011, as alleged by Gemalto.
“Consequently, MCA-Lesotho rejects the claim as frivolous and without any concrete facts and that it is in the best interest of the project to proceed with finalisation of the rest of the evaluation process.”
But when Gemalto SA persisted with its challenge MCA-Lesotho had no choice but to back down and forward the complaint to its Independent Appeals Panel.
And on July 25 the panel found that Iris had violated MCA-Lesotho’s tender regulations when it hosted Mosisili and his delegation before the evaluation was completed.
The panel ruled that Iris should be disqualified.
MCA-Lesotho issued a statement on Thursday confirming the decision.
“In the bid challenge, by Gemalto SA, of the procurement process for the National Identity Card Programme Managed Services Provider, the Independent Appeals Panel decided on July 25, 2011 that the procurement process is to continue and that MCA-Lesotho is required to disqualify the highest ranked consultant and engage in negotiations with the next highest ranked consultant. Therefore, the relief requested by the Claimant is granted,” the MCA-Lesotho statement said.
The decision means that Gemalto SA is now in line to win the tender if it agrees with MCA-Lesotho on terms.
According to MCA-Lesotho’s tender regulations the decision of the Independent Appeals Panel is “final, binding and enforceable”.
In a written response to the Sunday Express the MCA-Lesotho said Iris had been disqualified for communicating with the government of Lesotho during the tender process.
It however said neither the government nor the MCA-Lesotho itself had influenced the tender results.
The Independent Appeals Panel’s decision could seriously embarrass government secretary Tlohang Sekhamane who in June vehemently denied that there was anything sinister with the fact that the prime minister and his delegation had visited Iris.
He told the Lesotho Times, which first broke the story on the controversy surrounding the tender, that by the time Mosisili visited Malaysia Iris had already been selected.
“When he left for Malaysia, Iris had already been selected as number one among companies that were shortlisted,” Sekhamane said.
“His (Mosisili’s) visit to the Iris offices had nothing to do with the tender in Lesotho,” the government secretary said, adding: “He couldn’t have influenced the outcome of the tender process.”
Iris’ disqualification means that MCA-Lesotho might have to pay more for the ID contract.
In its financial bid that scored 100 percent Iris had indicated that it could do the job for US$15.6 million (M108 million). Gemalto had indicated that it could do the job for US$18.9 million (M130 million), US$3.3 (M22.7 million) more than what Iris was charging.
This is not the first time the lucrative ID tender has been mired in controversy.
Earlier this year MCA-Lesotho was forced to cancel the initial tender after confidential information leaked to bidders before the final report was sent to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which finances the project.
The MCC, an independent US foreign aid agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty, was created by the US Congress in January 2004.
The MCC’s executive arm in Lesotho is the MCA-Lesotho, which was created by the Lesotho parliament.
The national identification card programme is one of the MCC projects funded by the United States government with the aim to reduce poverty through economic growth in Lesotho.
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