Water Services drops €18 million tender to outsource workforce

Plans by the Water Services Corporation (WSC) to hire some hundred new employees through a private third party were postponed at the last minute.

An €18 million tender, intended for a company controlled by Frank Cachia, the President of Marsaxlokk Football Club, was cancelled following direction from the Energy Ministry headed by Miriam Dalli. The reasons behind the failure to award the tender, which has been in progress for several months, remain unclear despite it being an open call.

Sources indicate that Cachia, who submitted the lowest bid through AGV HR Limited, was deemed to lack experience in the relevant sector.

Interestingly, the second-lowest bidder, OZO Group, which already supplies employees to the government in various sectors and has received numerous direct orders over the past years, was also not awarded the tender. For reasons that remain unclear, the Ministry seems unwilling to grant the lucrative contract to either of the two companies and is now expected to issue a fresh call.

WSC sources told The Shift that there is increasing pressure on the agency to hire more employees and the perception that an election may occur soon is complicating this situation.

It has been noted that while third-party companies are contracted to provide human resources, some Ministers use these contracts to recruit their constituents, effectively placing them on a state-funded payroll while circumventing public sector regulations.

The Water Services Corporation (WSC) has been utilised for similar exercises in the past, particularly during election periods.

Before the 2017 elections, then Minister Konrad Mizzi added around 150 fitters to the WSC payroll to improve his re-election chances and beat his political rivals. Many of these fitters have since become full-time employees in various other government departments.

In April, the WSC issued a tender announcing its intention to outsource recruitment for management and professional staff to a private human resources agency. The contract is set for three years and requests the hiring of between 53 and 150 employees. The agency currently employs around 1,100 staff members.

Another government agency, also overseen by Minister Dalli, utilises the same recruitment system. About 900 employees are supplied to Wasteserv, the waste management agency, through a tender with OZO.

The Shift had previously reported that canvassers for Minister Dalli, including former ONE TV reporter Pearl Agius, were placed on the government payroll through this system following the Minister’s intervention.

The General Workers Union, which represents the majority of employees in these agencies, has so far declined to take a stand on this new trend adopted by the Labour government.