At a press conference on Wednesday, February 2, Hon. Penn said he has the evidence and that the contract was indeed awarded to the bidder that was $300,000 more than the lowest bidder.

Hon. Penn said the two companies are owned Virgin Islanders, but questioned the disparity between the two bids.

“The one that has the lower bid has over 25 years’ experience in that industry. And if that person is off, they can’t be that far off with 25 years’ experience in an industry,” Hon. Penn stated.

He added, “It means it is questionable what happened with that particular scenario. We need to get to the bottom of it. The Premier needs to put out the tender details of that particular project. If he is saying that we are not being truthful and accurate with the information then put it out.

Hon. Penn was asked whether the Auditor General should look into the award of the contract.

“I believe that the Auditor General has a responsibility to ensure that the resources of this Territory are spent in a way that’s in the best interest of the Territory and we have a responsibility as an opposition…to ensure that there is accountability,” Hon. Penn stated.

Premier Fahie has brushed aside Penn’s assertion when they were first made late last year, stating that it is nothing new for Government to issue contracts to tenderers with higher bids.

According to Hon. Penn, his probe into the matter unearthed that the other tenderer tendered $481,000 to source and install the air conditioning system.

The Opposition Leader has previously stated that it was clearly a waste of resources during this economically challenging time.

The contract for the supply and installation of the AC system was inked on December 9.