By HAMZA SULEIMAN

The Management of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (MAUTH) on Tuesday opened technical tenders for the execution of capital projects in the Hospital.

Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Ahmed Ahidjo, who declared the process open in Maiduguri, also turned off a tender during the session from one of the bidders on statutory grounds.

Ahidjo, while rejecting the bidder’s tender cited ethical issues regarding the position of the Procurement Act in such situation.

He said that admitting the bidder’s tender at the moment would not only breach the Procurement Act but rendered the entire exercise unacceptable.

The CMD said that an advertisement had already been made public for the prospective bidders to follow the instructions, adding that deadline for submitting a bid was very clear and wondered how could a serious tenderer delay his submission until after the closing date.

He said that the deadline for the opening was slated for Monday, June 9, but being public holiday it was scheduled to Tuesday, June 10 which was the next working as required by the law.

Ahidjo also expressed appreciation to the relevant agencies who were invited by the hospital management to witness the process as observers in accordance with the requirements of the Procurement Act.

The CMD, however, assured that the process would be conducted in a transparent way, adding that the submitted documents would be reviewed by the technical committee for the next line of action.

He added that tenderers would be evaluated based on their technical capabilities, expertise and past experiences in line with the Procurement Act.

Some of tenderers, who spoke shortly after the exercise, expressed appreciation to the management of the hospital for their firm stand to ensure that the bidding was done in a transparent manner.

Dr Kiridi Enefia, Abubakar Ibn Umar and Umar Hassan, all commended the management of the hospital for conducting the whole process in a transparent way. (NAN)