Filenews 21 December 2020 -by Vasos Vassiliou
The coronavirus pandemic may be extended beyond next summer, bearing in mind that the Ministry of Health has announced tenders for a crown test with effect until 23 September 2021. An appeal was registered for this tender by a company which had been excluded and which was wrongly excluded from the tendering procedure, as is apparent from a decision of the Bid Review Authority. The exclusion of the offer was made on the grounds that staff members declared as experts from the affected laboratory did not have the expertise or experience in molecular.
The Review Authority states in its unanimous decision that, 'it is clear that two measures and two weights have been respected in the evaluation of tenders, which is contrary to the principle of equal treatment of tenders'. It is also stated that while there was evidence in the applicants' tender that provided ground for investigation (before it was excluded), it was not investigated, while for other bidders no evidence was requested.
During the examination of the appeal, the Review Authority asked the representatives of the Ministry of Health to explain how it is possible a few months ago on the one to give permission to the applicants (the company excluded) to carry out molecular examinations and a few months later the same workshop to be excluded from a competition which also concerns molecular examinations and even when the director (whose qualifications were questioned) was the same in both cases.
However, the response of a representative of the Ministry of Health, who told the Review Authority that unfortunately the legislation on the operation of clinical laboratories is too old and there are several shortcomings on various issues. "Where medical services are firstly not entitled to request expertise and experience in any field relating to molecular examinations and secondly what the medical services have done is to see, in cooperation with the laboratories, the method they use and whether it is verified and updated on the basis of data or by standards."
