KUWAIT CITY, Sept 10: In a major surprise, Ministry of Public Works has disqualified 13 companies competing for tender to build and carry out maintenance works on roads and drainage system, in addition to other services for Blocks 1 and 2 of South Khaitan area, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The ministry also requested the Central Agency for Public Tenders to complete the technical study specially for the only company, which the ministry has qualified to have fulfilled the tender’s requirement, despite the fact that the difference between the least offer of that company is KD 9.4 million, which is 100 percent increase.

According to a communication addressed to the public tender agency by the ministry’s assistant undersecretary Ismael Al-Failakawi, the technical committee audited the offers to determine their adherence to tender conditions, and it became clear that 13 companies failed to fulfill the requirements of the tender, and only one company qualified for the bid.

The communication also indicated that the value of offers for the 13 companies were at the range of KD 9.8 million, which is generally the least of the cost offered by all bidding companies whereas the highest is KD 20.8 million, and the company that fulfilled the requirements presented a bidding offer of KD 19.2 billion.

Commenting on the ministry’s move to disqualify the 13 companies, sources in the ministry mentioned that it is within the ministry’s legal right to do so after it had previously published the tender on official newspapers.

The Central Agency for Public Tenders is not left with three options in this regard; either to allow the disqualified companies to rectify its offers and then represent them again or to take the only company which the ministry qualified it for the tender, or to cancel the tender and start the whole qualification process from the scratch.