Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in the case of this particular tender, I would agree with the Member. Normally, when bids are received, and in cases where there is only a single bid, if there is a minor omission or some confusion about a fact or two within the submission, the department would probably go back.
Unfortunately, in this case, the bidder actually missed a major part of the tender requirements. The tender requirements requested unit prices on six items. The bidder did not produce any unit prices at all. He gave us a total contract price. The tender required he include a list of subcontractors. We were aware, because of the knowledge we have of this particular contractor, that he would have to have subcontractors. He had not included any list of subcontractors. We would not have known, for instance, he could have been suggesting a southern subcontractor because he provided no information at all. He did not provide any plant and equipment list, which was a specific requirement in the tender. Again, we asked for that very specifically because we know there are very few northern bidders who actually have the equipment and plant necessary to do the work. He did not include that. He did not include a schedule for the completion of the work.
So this was not a question of a minor remission or a slight deviation from the requirements of the tender document. In this case, major parts of the bids were missing and we had no alternative under the contract regulations, but to consider the tender non-responsive on that basis. Thank you.