Construction company ordered to pay back R68.8m after unlawful tender

The Special Tribunal has ordered a construction company to pay back some R68.8 million that it has earned through an unlawful tender awarded by the Mogalakwena Local Municipality.

The company, Easyway Tarmac Pave and Projects CC, was contracted by the municipality for the supply, delivery, installation, and/or construction of borehole development, storage reservoirs and bulk gravity supply pipelines in a mammoth R167.9 million contract.

The contract was declared unconstitutional, unlawful

and invalid by the tribunal, following an application by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

The corruption busting unit contended that the company “fraudulently misrepresented its grades and projects undertaken, thereby inducing the municipality to award the tender to it”.

“The Tribunal upheld the SIU’s evidence that Easyway deliberately lied in its bid documents. The company claimed to have completed three projects, each valued at over R50 million, for various municipalities. 

“The SIU investigation, supported by affidavits from municipal managers, proved these claims were false. In one instance, Easyway inflated the value of an actual project from R6.1 million to over R50.8 million. In another, Easyway claimed a project that never existed.

“The SIU’s investigation found that Easyway would not have scored the minimum points required to qualify for the tender had it not made false claims,” the SIU said in a statement.

The company’s contractor grading also “legally disqualified from undertaking a contract of this value”.

Furthermore, the municipality’s own evaluation process was also found to be subpar.

“The evaluation process by the municipality’s Bid Evaluation Committee was found to be unfair and non-transparent, as it failed to score bids according to its own specifications properly and could not justify why a higher-scoring bidder was overlooked," the SIU said.

In line with the Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act 74 of 1996, the SIU will refer any evidence of criminal conduct uncovered during its investigation to the National Prosecuting Authority for further action. – SAnews.gov.za