Trencon loses Ga-rankuwa Mall court battle to GVK
PIC process was fair, says rules high court judge
One of South Africa’s leading construction companies, Trencon Construction’s bid to overturn a multimillion-rand contract awarded to GVK-SIYA Zama Contractors (GVK) by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has fallen flat after the Pretoria High Court dismissed the matter with costs.
The PIC, Africa’s largest asset manager, in 2019 advertised a tender for the appointment of the principal building contractor for the proposed redevelopment of Ga-rankuwa Shopping Centre in Pretoria.
The project consisted of an extension of about 22 000m2 and a refurbishment of the existing 37 000m2.
On completion, the redevelopment of Ga-rankuwa City Mall will yield 54 723m2 and is expected to be completed in June.
One of the key requirements was for bidders to provide evidence of their company’s capability of carrying out works or services to completed or projects not older than five years, and of R300-million and above in value.
This is what, according to the PIC, put GVK’S bid at an advantage as the company had recently completed a refurbishment and extension of a shopping centre worth over R450-million.
Trencon’s argument was that it had demonstrated the ability to undertake massive refurbishment projects. Trencon sought an order that the tender awarded to GVK be set aside and that it be awarded to it, and in the alternative that the decision be remitted back to the PIC for reconsideration.
However, Brenda Neukircher dismissed Trencon’s arguments and said the PIC had conducted a fair process when awarding the tender.
GVK and Trencon were provided an equal opportunity to clarify bids
“In my view, both GVK and Trencon were provided an equal opportunity to clarify their respective bids, and in so doing the one was not preferred above the other. The adjusted scoring that was the result of this may have had an outcome that saw Trencon’s bid fail, but that per se does not make the process unfair, and it does not provide any evidence that there is a reasonable apprehension of bias,” the ruling reads in part.
“In my view, none of the review grounds advanced by Trencon demonstrate that the process adopted by the PIC was procedurally flawed or unfair and therefore the application for review must fail.”