The Department of Health Services has revoked the contract given to Omni Group to bring medical supplies.
The group has also been blacklisted and its guarantee of Rs 60 million confiscated, according to Director General of the department Mahendra Shrestha. "The contract stated that the materials should have been brought by March 30 but were not. The second lot of materials should have been brought by tomorrow but not even process has been started," Shrestha told Setopati.
The second lot should have been delivered on April 2 and the third on April 5.
"It said the materials are ready in China and the plane is also ready. Others had also not arranged the materials and stayed silent. It had apparently tried to swindle. We, therefore, revoked the contract."
He revealed that the contract was awarded as it claimed to have arranged the necessary items when there was scarcity in the market.
"It said the materials and plane are ready. Would you not eat when someone gives you food when you are hungry? Would you not pay Rs 40 for tea that costs Rs 20 if you are hungry and have money in your pocket? Would you pay money if even warm water is not brought when tea should have been served? We have similarly revoked the contract with Omni. Its guarantee will also be confiscated. We have not made payment for the goods," he elaborated.
Shrestha said the contractor may move the court when asked how would you recover the fare of plane the government chartered while bringing the first lot of goods that was to be brought by Omni. "The goods that were brought recently were 10 percent in terms of goods (weight) but was 18 percent in terms of contract amount," he pointed.
The contract was worth Rs 1.24 billion and Omni had kept a guarantee of Rs 60 million at the time of contract.
Shrestha said a new contract process will start now. "We will issue a notice inviting the businessmen who had applied in the previous contract. We will ask how many items they can deliver. We will invite new bids if they cannot," he revealed. "We had signed the contract even if the quoted price was up to 20 percent higher as there was scarcity in the market. We have received information that China has also intensified production of materials including PPEs. The price will now be cheaper."
