Kampala. A firm has petitioned the Inspector General of Government and the Solicitor General calling for a probe of the Works ministry over the manner in which a vehicle inspection contract was awarded to a Swiss firm.

The contract price for the contract is still unspecified.

Following more than six years of protracted legal battles, the Works ministry on March 17 awarded the contract to carry out mandatory motor vehicle inspection to a Swiss firm, Societe Generale De Surveillance (SGS).

However, in an April 17 protest letter to the ministry, the IGG and the Solicitor General, Environmental Systems Products (ESP), the firm that has been CONTESTING over the deal, questioned the manner in which the contract was handed out.

“As you are very well aware, our client [ESP] was one of the best evaluated bidders during the process that has been characterised by serious contestations for reasons that are very well in your knowledge. Nevertheless, our client kept her bid security valid until the tender was awarded to SGS,” the firm wrote in a protest letter to the Works ministry.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Mr Ronald Amanyire, the principal inspector of vehicles at the ministry, said all the procedures had been followed in awarding the contract, including getting clearance from the Solicitor General. “That case holds no water because a judicial review which took place was never done in secret. How can they say they were kept in the dark when they kept renewing their bid and their bid security? he asked.