DDL bids again for Education Ministry juice contract

A year after it lodged a protest over the award of the 2016 contract, Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) has once again bid to supply juice for the Ministry of Education’s nationwide school feeding programme.

The only other bidder is the company it lost to last year, Caribbean International Distribution Incorporated (CIDI), a subsidiary of Surinamese company, Rudisa.

The bids were opened yesterday at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).

After CIDI was awarded the contract last year, DDL lodged an objection with the Bid Protest Committee (BPC) which had only been recently established.

The BPC later ruled that the evaluating committee did not stick to the criteria stipulated in the tender documents. While the BPC annulled the part of the procurement process dealing with the evaluation of tenders, which implied that it would have to be re-done, nothing further happened

DDL was awarded the cost of the preparation of its bid and did not speak of any measures it would take pertaining to the judgment.

The amounts tendered yesterday for the contract to supply and deliver boxed juice to the Ministry of Education are shown in the table below.

NPTAB did not state the period the amounts would cover.