Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am informed that on 19 January 2026, a tender exercise was launched through the restricted bidding procurement method through the e-procurement system by my Ministry for the replacement of floodlights at Saint François Xavier Stadium. The estimated cost of the project was Rs2,900,000, excluding VAT, and the closing date for the submission of bids was on 09 February 2026. 20 potential bidders were invited to bid. On 10 February 2026, the bids were opened and only two bidders had quoted for the project, namely – • Mauritech Limited with a bid value of Rs3,469,200, excluding VAT, and secondly, • Kabelek Engineering Limited with a bid value of Rs2,214,000, excluding VAT. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, as per the normal procurement procedures, a bid evaluation committee was set up at the level of my Ministry to evaluate the bids and to make appropriate recommendations. It is worth mentioning at this stage that an essential aspect of this procurement exercise was the preparation of the technical specification for the floodlights, which was done by an Electrical Engineer/Senior Electrical Engineer from the Energy Services Division of the Ministry of National Infrastructure. In addition, an officer of the same grade from the ESD formed part of the bid evaluation committee to evaluate the bids. Hence, during the evaluation, the BEC noted that Kabelek Engineering Limited has not met technical criteria regarding the requested power factor technical specification for the proposed model and proposed simulation of the lux level distribution map. The BEC requested that the bidder submits additional information regarding those missing information. The additional information as submitted by Kabelek Engineering Limited did not satisfy the BEC, and the bid was not retained. It did not proceed to the financial evaluation. On the other hand, the BEC found that MauriTech Limited has satisfied all the qualifications criteria and technical requirements as per the tender documents. Hence, the bid was considered to be substantially responsive. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to point out that MauriTech Limited had quoted a bid amount which was 90% higher than the cost estimate. Directive No.16 of the Public Procurement Office provides that negotiation may be undertaken with a bidder whose bid is substantially responsive and does not exceed the cost estimate by more than 25%. Accordingly, a negotiating team was appointed to invite the bidder to submit its best and final offer. Following negotiation, MauriTech Limited was awarded the contract for a contract value of Rs3,300,000, excluding VAT.

M. le président, à un moment où on demande à la population de faire des économies, où le gouvernement lui-même devrait faire des économies, nous constatons qu’on a alloué le contrat à une entreprise qui a quote R 1,255,000 de plus que son concurrent. L'honorable ministre ne pense-t-il pas, dans un contexte actuel difficile, qu’il faudrait relancer un exercice d'appel d'offre de façon à ce qu'on ait plus de soumissionnaires, de façon à ce qu'on puisse réellement faire le choix qu'il faut et allouer le contrat à un prix raisonnable comparé, il vient de le dire lui-même…

Okay, you have made your point.

…il alloue le contrat 90 % plus cher que le montant qui avait été initialement préconisé.

Hon. Minister!

I have answered to the question; we had had 20 potential bidders that were invited for the bid and we have to go by our regulations. We cannot bypass our regulations or what has been established. So, if we do not do that, that means we are bypassing the regulations of bidding exercise.

The hon. Third Member for Vieux Grand Port & Rose Belle – it has been withdrawn. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY – IMPLEMENTATION – WASTE SEGREGATION & COMPOSTING