A joint venture co-owned by a Labour insider submitted the lowest bid for a multi-million-euro government contract to rebuild the home for the elderly in Bormla, one of Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela’s first controversial decisions since he entered politics.

The Shift is informed that Clifton Borg, a former customer care officer at the Labour Party headquarters and later made Chief Officer at Transport Malta, is fronting the €79 million offer made by Carewise Joint Venture for the 20-year contract.

The lead partner in this consortium is road contractor and developer Schembri Barbros Ltd, which has also received multi-million-euro direct orders from the government in the past few years.

Borg is representing Archway Operators Ltd, which he owns with his wife, Charlene. The company currently manages the St Thomas Home for the elderly in Marsacala.

Archway Operators Ltd owners Clifton and Charlene Borg.

Four bids were submitted for the estimated €102 million Bormla Home project, which is expected to take years to complete after some 120 elderly residents were suddenly uprooted from their homes last year to make way for the new development.

While the bid’s price is an important factor in the evaluation process, technical scoring carries a 70% mark in the final adjudication.

Care Malta, the Vassallo Group company, which had run the same home for decades, submitted the second-lowest bid, at €86 million.

The company is followed by €98 million from Carerise Ltd, co-owned by the Labour deputy mayor of Naxxar Mario Brincat.

Golden Ventures,  co-owned by the secretary general of the Malta Developers Association Paul Attard submitted the most expensive bid at €101 million. In this venture, Attard is joined by Bonnici Brothers, the former clients of Robert Abela’s legal office and his business partners.

In 2013, Care Malta’s management contract was not renewed, and no new tender was ever issued. Instead, the government opted for the same private management, extending its contract every six months in breach of public procurement rules – paying outdated rates pegged to an agreement struck with the government two decades earlier.

In the meantime, the building was left deteriorating, and the government failed to do the necessary upgrades.

The government currently controls the private elderly home business sector, buying hundreds of beds and paying hundreds of millions annually. It refuses to be accountable and publish contracts it enters into through direct orders.