Telecom Bid Canceled Over Missing Bid Records

Public Auditor Benjamin Cruz canceled the eight-year-old bid for a government telecommunications contract.

And a revised bid status issued in June 2018 also is canceled, Cruz’s decision states.

Cruz’s decision followed the Superior Court of Guam 2016 decision that the entire procurement should be canceled because the procurement record was “materially incomplete.” The Supreme Court last year affirmed part of the Superior Court’s decision canceling part of the bid because of incomplete records.

The Guam General Services Agency failed to keep proper records of minutes of meetings with GSA’s consultant on the telecom bid; communications between the consultant and the government; drafts of the invitation for bid; and other paper and materials used by the consultant in the development of specifications, the Supreme Court decision states.

GTA presented itself as the lowest bidder for the 1 Gbps service and argued that the GSA’s decision to award only one contract for both the 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps service was arbitrary and capricious, court records state.

Court documents state: For the 1 Gbps service, GTA bid $750 per month per node and PDS bid $870 per month per node. For the 10 Gbps service, GTA bid $9,400 per month per node, and PDS bid $1,500 per month per node. GTA bid an additional installation charge of $48,832 per node.

“The court ruled that because the procurement record for (Invitation for Bid) GSA 064-11 was incomplete, the solicitation and proposed award based on this record are in violation of procurement law,” Cruz’s decision states.

The services were supposed to be provided for five years. The goal of the invitation for bid was to consolidate government of Guam agencies’ phone and internet services.

The two companies had been locked in courtroom battles for years. The public auditor stated both parties should bear their own costs.―Postguam