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Court denies relief to govt’s ex-contractor
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Posted on Aug 21 2005
The Superior Court denied last week the petition for judicial review filed by a company that had provided computer maintenance services to the CNMI government in 2001.
Marianas Information Technology Corp. questioned the procurement process that awarded a two-month contract to another company, A.O. Enterprises, Inc., without competitive bidding.
Associate Judge David Wiseman ruled that, although the expedited procurement process was improper, no justification existed to award Maritech lost profits and costs related to the court action.
“The fact that Maritech was the service provider immediately prior to the contract with AOE does not establish that Maritech was the best-qualified contractor to fulfill the two-month contract or would have been the low bidder,” Wiseman said. “The fact that AOE was hired on an expedited basis might be because they were the best qualified for the contract despite the impropriety of the process.”
AOE provided services to the government from Jan. 22 to March 22 in 2002. Wiseman declared that AOE is entitled to payment, since its obligations under the contract were already performed.
When the government awarded the contract to AOE, Maritech timely protested the appeal. The Office of Public Auditor eventually found AOE qualified to execute government contracts, although it said that the expedited procurement process was improper.
The OPA held that it is in the best interest of the Commonwealth to ratify and affirm AOE’s contract since the company had already rendered services. Among other grounds, the OPA also denied the bid protest, which it found to be an abuse of the administrative appeals process to harass the government. Maritech elevated the appeal before the Superior Court.
“Maritech presents no evidence other than its prior contract that it would have been hired but for the improper expedited procurement process,” Wiseman said. (John Ravelo)
