With the launch of the new website, it seems that tenders are no longer being published on this portal. Where can I find tendering opportunities?
All tenders published by the Department of Contracts, with the exception of a very few tenders, are now being published on the new Government of Malta website; http://etenders.gov.mt. The etenders website will eventually be used by all Government of Malta entities for their procurement needs.
Therefore, if I understand correctly, there can be tenders published on this website?
Yes. Some tenders may be published on this portal. All details and documentation can be found under the Tenders section. These can be found under the Publications option in the website menu bar and by selecting the Tenders option.
What else can be found under this section?
The details that can be found under this section are tender specific and these are:
- Advert No
- Subject
- Publication Date
- Closing Date
- Additional Documents like Clarifications (if any)
- Schedule of Prices, and
- GCC Recommendation
Can I register to receive notifications of any tenders published?
Unfortunately no, since this website does not capture users’ login details. Tenders being published on this portal, which will be only a few, will be free of charge. Therefore, all documentation will be made available in their entirety which will include any drawings and clarifications. It will be the responsibility of the interested economic operators to regularly check for any clarifications issued.
Will the submitted prices still be made public?
Of course. These will be made public by publishing the Schedule of Prices on the Department of Contracts notice board and also on this website. Schedules can be found under the Tenders section by searching for the particular tender of interest and if the Closing Date has passed, it will be available by clicking on Schedule link.
What about the award details, will they be made public as well?
Definitely. Awards will be published on a monthly basis. This can be found under the News and Info section which will show the latest monthly awards. The Annual awards can be found under the Awards section. The pdfs under this section are all searchable.
Where can I find the Department of Contracts tender notices or will they no longer be published on this portal now that the new tenders are being published on the etenders portal?
Since all the tender notices are still being published on the Government Gazette, the respective notices will also be published on this portal whether these are traditional or an electronic tenders. These notices can be found under the Adverts section. This section has all the tenders published since 2003. When you click on one of the years; the individual issues can be found for that particular year.
If the recommendations can be found in each respective tender, why is there a GCC Recommendations section?
Since there are still tenders that were published using the traditional format which are still under evaluation, the Department of Contracts would still need a way of publishing the GCC Recommendations. The GCC Recommendations section is therefore there for this reason. This section will show all the recommendations that were presented to the General Contracts Committee for deliberation for both traditional and electronic tenders.
If I need to communicate with the Department of Contracts, what is the preferred method?
There is no preferred method; you can either give us a call or alternatively you can send us an email. The latter would be better if you want to contact us after office hours. We will do our best to reply in the shortest possible time. Our contact details can be found under Contact Us section. You can either fill the online form or alternatively, send us an email using the email address provided. When you send us an email and please quote the official's name (if you know it). This will enable us to reply quicker to your communication. If you want to communicate verbally, please check out our Contact Details section for a list of all the telephone numbers sorted by Section.
With the launch of the new Department of Contracts website and having tenders published on the Government of Malta dedicated electronic tenders portal, does this mean that the public can no longer call at the Department of Contracts?
The public is always very welcome at the Department of Contracts. We will be more than happy to assist you when you call personally with any queries you might have. It is recommended though, that you contact the Department for an appointment prior to calling in personally due to the fact that personnel can be unavailable due to them attending training or meetings, delivering training to Contracting Authorities, or Workshops to Economic Operators. The Department's opening hours can be found under the Contact Us section.
In the past, I could look up past tenders and download the respective tender documentation. It seems that on the new website past tenders information is no longer available. Can you please tell me how I can obtain this information?
This information is still available on the new website. This can be found by clicking on Publications on the top menu, Tenders and then the link Search Tenders (pre-2014). Fill in the your search criteria and click Search. The returned results (if any) have a clickable subject which will display more information on the tender.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I can request information
from the Department of Contracts. What is the procedure to make a
request for information?
To make a request for
information under the FOI Act, you will need to fill in the necessary
forms. These forms can be downloaded by clicking
here. Once the form is filled in, it must be scanned and sent to the Department of Contracts on email:
foi.contracts@gov.mt where it would be dealt with by the FOI Officer.
How will the information requested under the Freedom of Information Act be made available?The information, if available
and not exempt under the Act, will be sent either
by email, made available on optical media or hard copy.