A Taipei City councilor yesterday accused Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC, 台北大眾捷運公司) of bid-rigging in the company's NT$23 million procurement of fire safety equipment.
The company denies the allegation. The city's anti-corruption department, however, pledged to investigate and publish its findings within a week.
The procurement is part of TRTC's efforts to restore the city's MRT service in the wake of damage inflicted by Typhoon Nari.
KMT City Councilor Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) made the allegation at a press conference and said that TRTC had rigged the bid in favor of the Jyi-Bang Fire Protection Co (吉邦防災工業).
"When the president of the TRTC, Richard Chen (陳椿亮), fell ill after working long hours for three weeks without a day off, it is terrible to see some of his unworthy staff taking advantage of the opportunity for personal gain," she said.
Chen began his pattern of heavy work after Typhoon Nari paralyzed the underground lines of the MRT system in mid-September. The city estimates repair costs will total NT$4.2 billion.
Lin said that she understood that the company hopes to have the entire system operational as soon as possible. She said, however, that it should have procured the necessary equipment lawfully.
According to Lin, the bid meeting, originally scheduled for 1:30pm on Oct. 8, did not start until 3pm because the representative of Jyi-Bang, the last bidder to arrive, took more than 30 minutes to fill out the bidding form.
The bidding process for public contracts in Taiwan often involves representatives of the bidding companies simultaneously attending a meeting at which the bids are submitted in sealed envelopes.
"What's more ridiculous is that while the Jyi-Bang representative was filling out the form, the chairman of the meeting and three other TRTC personnel were checking out the documents in the four other envelopes," she said. "It was absolutely unnecessary -- and illegal."
Moreover, while Jyi-Bang was allowed extra time to fill out the form, Lin said, a sixth company, Chaun Ann Fire Fighting Safety Co (忠安消防), was blocked from entering the venue.
In addition, the process was not videotaped, nor were there any anti-corruption personnel present, she said.
Although the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) allows the bidding process to take place without videotaping, most government agencies do film the process in order to avoid allegations of bid rigging.
Moreover, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had specifically requested the presence of anti-corruption personnel.
Lee Ta-yu (李大愚), chief of the procurement center of the TRTC, dismissed Lin's accusations.
He said the bidding was not scheduled to take place at 1:30pm.
"There was no set time for the bidding, although we told them to come at 1:30pm," he said.
The reason that Chaun Ann was barred from participating in the bidding, Lee said, was that the process had already begun.
"Besides, we didn't open the envelopes to reveal information to Jyi-Bang but to check whether the documents inside were complete," he said.
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