City in court over tanker contracts
ETHEKWINI Municipality has been taken to court by a logistics company over a R90.2 million water tanker contract.
The matter between the ethekwini Municipality and a transport company, Xmoor Transport, will continue next week at the Durban High Court.
Xmoor Transport wants the municipality to review its R90.2m contract awarded to five different companies for the hiring of water tankers and drivers for 36 months.
Xmoor Transport wants an order from the court that the decision by ethekwini Municipality to award the tender to the other five companies be reviewed and set aside, or be declared unconstitutional and invalid.
In the court papers seen by the Daily News, the city is instructed to advertise a water tanker service and driver contract.
It is said that the city advertised and published an invitation for tender bids in respect of the contract to provide water to certain communities.
The transport company stated that it had worked with the municipality for the past five years and couldn’t understand why it was told it was illegally working for a company that was its competitor.
After the company was rejected by the municipality, it submitted a letter of objection and said it wished to place on record its intention to appeal and challenge the city’s decision. It requested the reasons and grounds for why the contract bid was unsuccessful.
Furthermore, Xmoor Transport
alleged that the other five companies should have been disqualified for failure to meet formal compliance with the conditions of the contract.
“Bidders were entitled to make an election as to whether they would continue with the process as there were three extensions which required bidders to submit written documentation that effectively ensured that their pricing didn’t change due to effluxion of time and the associated commercial consequences caused by the extension.
“However, if compliance wasn’t met, such would be fatal to their bid, which was not capable of being revived. The five companies failed to extend their offers within the prescribed time frames and the consequence was that they must be disqualified,” read the court papers.
Xmoor Transport alleges that there was “collusion” between the representatives of the municipality who assisted the five companies in question.
It said the tender process was irregular, unconstitutional and must be set aside.