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Tendering and contracting in Lebanon is getting more and more complicated! On Wednesday, the Public Procurement Authority issued its report on the public tender for the purchase of diesel in December with a maximum sulfur content of 10,000 ppm (in exchange for that sent by Iraq) to meet the needs of EDL and the Ministry of Telecommunications (required for the operation of telephone exchanges). It has recommended that the tender be reopened.

A source close to the case told This Is Beirut that the authority had recommended reopening the tender because it had found “several significant anomalies” in the file.

It urged the Ministry of Energy “to comply with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act and re-launch the tender, giving bidders sufficient time to submit their bids.”

The Public Procurement Authority has reminded the Minister of Energy “of the need to comply with the text of Article 100, paragraph 1 of the Public Procurement Act, concerning the obligation of the Public Procurement Commission to act independently of the purchaser in all its work and decisions.”

After examining the tender documents, it was found that “the contracting authority (the Ministry of Energy) had reduced the publication period to 15 days instead of 21 days, which did not give the bidders enough time to prepare their bids and obtain the necessary documents in accordance with the specifications,” according to the above source.

In addition, the file received from the sole bidder did not contain any document demonstrating the exceptional circumstances on which it relied to reduce the deadline, in accordance with the provisions of Article 12(2) of the Public Procurement Law.

The Authority considered that “such a shortening of the publication period would lead to a reduction of the competitive base and increase the reluctance of potential bidders to participate in the tender.”

According to the same source, shortening the publication deadlines has the effect of “preventing new bidders from entering the public competitive market and restricting this market.”

The source also noted another violation of the Public Procurement Act: the tender did not include a price.

“The specifications did not comply with the Public Procurement Code regarding the declaration of the ultimate beneficial owner,” the source explained.

Energy Minister Walid Fayad appeared to be playing the role of the commercial representative of the bidding company rather than that of a Lebanese government minister.

Ellieh accused the Minister of trying to stop the tender for the fuel needed by EDL and of “making a serious mistake.”

According to some sources, Fayad sent a letter to this effect to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and to the ministers meeting in the Council of Ministers on Thursday morning.

The Minister believes that this will delay the arrival of fuel and therefore reduce the supply of electricity, potentially leading to a “blackout” in mid-December.

It should be remembered that Lebanon and Iraq signed an agreement on 23 July 2021 under which Iraq will supply fuel to Lebanese power stations on terms favorable to the country.

This agreement came into force in September 2021, with a fuel volume of 100,000 tonnes per month (80,000 tonnes usable by the power plants due to the swap). Since Iraqi fuel cannot be used directly in Lebanese power plants due to its high sulfur content, Beirut buys another type of compatible fuel from other suppliers (hence the tender) in exchange for the Iraqi fuel.