Please refer to the retraction issued by NICL (National Insurance Corporation Limited) which has been published by this newspaper on 11th October 2009. Very briefly, let us look at the facts:
1. The Initial tender was quite straightforward in its requirements.
2. After over 2 months of evaluations the tender is rejected.
3. The new tender has the following provision:
Bidders to deposit the Earnest Money within 5 days in advance after which the tender sale date is closed.
So, the question arises: What is so different in the new tender technically that can be evaluated by the Consulting Engineers within 2-3 weeks, whereas they took over 2 months before?
The answer obviously is that no deal was made with the NICL and the Consultants and because Gresham's was agitating for inclusion of SRO 827(I)2001 in the tender document, it was best to eliminate the troublesome bidder who technically stood qualified.
This is pure corruption at the highest level between the NICL management as well as the Consultants, who are hand in glove in the matter. Poor maintenance at NICL is the main cause of the problems with the HVAC System at NICL.
HVAC Systems installed at Tibet Centre, Habib Bank Building, AWT Plaza, PNSC Building, PC Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi are some of the examples of HVAC systems, similar to NICL that are working even after 40 years of service. Hope this information is useful to further answer the NICL management.