Government’s preferred contractor fails to confirm €600 million incinerator bid

The government’s plans to award a significant €600 million contract for a waste-to-energy facility (incinerator) have encountered a major setback as the preferred bidder did not renew the offer.

Sources confirmed that Wasteserv, the government agency in charge of the procurement process, has notified the Public Contracts Review Board (PCRB)—which is currently reviewing an appeal against the government’s award—that the recommended bidder, Paprec Energies International – BBL Malta, failed to respond to a request for an extension of their bid’s validity.

No decision has been made regarding the next steps. However, public procurement rules indicate that the government must either award the tender to the second recommended bidder or cancel the entire tendering process and start over.

The second bidder, Kanadevia Inova AG (formerly known as Hitachi), is contesting the government’s decision to recommend the Paprec-Bonnici consortium for the contract. Their bid is approximately €180 million higher than the recommended offer, totalling €781 million.

Questions sent to Paprec Energies by The Shift to confirm their disinterest in the project went unanswered.

Paprec Energies is a French multinational specialising in waste-to-energy solutions. Their Maltese partner, the Bonnici Brothers Group, holds a 40% stake in the consortium and is a road construction contractor with direct ties to Prime Minister Robert Abela.

A comedy of errors

The long-awaited project has been stuck in the procurement phase for years and has faced numerous serious issues under the management of Wasteserv CEO Richard Bilocca.

The procurement process was issued and cancelled several times, and the latest round, which began in 2023, is currently under appeal following a court decision to annul the evaluation process.

During the latest evaluation phase, Wasteserv, through the Department of Contracts, “inadvertently” published classified financial information. This breach allegedly skewed the tender bidding phase, which resulted in the awarding of a €600 million contract to the Paprec-Bonnici consortium.

This led to an appeal, and last summer, the court ordered Wasteserv to restart the evaluation process.

Still,  yet again, Wasteserv awarded the contract to the same Paprec-Bonnici consortium last January, prompting another appeal from Kanadevia, claiming more foul play occurred.

Throughout this ongoing process, the CEO of Wasteserv has made controversial public statements, disparaging competing bidders by referring to them as the “losing consortium“. These comments have aggravated the situation and sparked further legal action.