Put off protest vs CUC decision

The sponsor of the recently enacted law that forced the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation to revive the 80-megawatt power project on Saipan prodded competing firms that lost out to Enron to put off any legal protest in order to move ahead with the long-delayed plan.

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes also stressed that Public Law 12-1 has included provisions ensuring fair bidding as well as protection from lawsuits arising from decisions made by the CUC board.

The policy-making body on Friday handed out a “conditional” award to the Texas-based power giant in a split vote by board members ahead of the negotiation process on the terms of the estimated $120 million contract.

“The decision is entirely up to the board,” Mr. Reyes told in an interview. “I hope they were not pressured to select any bidders by the bill. We emphasized that the three highest proposers should again be allowed to re-bid so that they can select the best qualified bidder.”

The senator filed the measure that became Public Law 12-1 following the board’s scrapping of the original request for proposal for the 80-MW plant in favor a generator with smaller capacity.

In awarding the contract to Enron, majority of the members said they were compelled by the 60-day period set out in the law to make an award, which expires on May 30, and that its provisions clearly spelled out requirements, such as low-speed generators, which the winning bid had met.

Enron topped the independent evaluation conducted by experts from Burns & McDonnell, followed closely by the Tomen Consortium and SPP/HEI.

Representatives for the two firms have vowed to protest the selection of Enron, noting that they have essentially similar proposals that a final phase of bidding is necessary to choose the best offer.

“I want to encourage those who are protesting against the [decision] to back out from this in a friendly and nice way,” explained Mr. Reyes. “We need this project to move on and no one benefits from any delay any longer than it has already gone.”

He said he will support any action by the CUC board to prevent further delay. The project, touted to be the largest deal ever in CNMI’s history, has been beset with legal problems and other pressing issues for the past two years since initially awarding the contract to Marubeni-Sithe.

“I hope that the legal protection that was built in PL 12-1 will be sufficient to block any kind of liability against the CUC board,” added the senator. (BS)