BCM’S interdict headache
BUFFALO City Metro has been interdicted from proceeding with a crucial contract for the compiling and maintenance of its asset registers and municipal valuation rolls.
The company which lost out on the tender, eValuations Enhanced Property Appraisals, successfully resorted to the East London circuit local division of the High Court to interdict BCM and the successful contractor Primeland Properties from implementing any agreement in respect of the contract.
The interdict will remain in place until the finalisation of a review application in terms of which eValuations is asking the court to set aside BCM’s decision to award the contract to Primeland Properties.
The valuation was to take place in July this year and the date of implementation of the certified valuation roll was to take effect in July next year.
With a review of the contract on the cards, it is unlikely the BCM will meet these targets.
Last year the BCM asked registered property valuers to tender for a contract for the compilation and maintenance of the general municipal valuation roll, asset register of municipal properties, supplementary valuation rolls, as well as the supply of other valuation related services. The Auditor General annually complains of the BCM’s poor performance in these areas.
Primeland Properties was awarded the tender when its bid came in R3-million less than eValuation’s bid.
But Judge Elna Revelas says the award was made despite severe scepticism on the part of certain BCM employees about Primeland Properties’ competence and suitability for the highly specialised task at hand.
Revelas said the work envisaged in the contract was vital.
She said evidence suggested that to meet the tender criteria, Primeland Properties had relied in its bid on the extensive experience of an individual who would assist it with the work but who was not part of the tender process. She said there was merit in the proposition that it was not up to the job.
“The scathing criticism of (Primeland Properties’) suitability and qualifications, along with certain other factors, may very well persuade a reviewing court to set aside the tender,” Revelas said.
Head of the one-man company, Edward Baleni has, according to court papers, already relocated from Johannesburg, opened offices in East London and entered into a two-year contract with service providers to do the job. But Revelas said the prejudice he might suffer as a result of the interdict could be laid at the door of the BCM, which consistently refused to provide eValuations with documentation after the tender was awarded.