PARLIAMENT | Seven of Datasonic Technologies Sdn Bhd’s (DTSB) government contracts were awarded without an open tender process, according to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
In a written reply to Lim Guan Eng (Pakatan Harapan - Bagan), Saifuddin revealed that the seven projects were worth around RM1 billion and were granted between September 2015 and August 2022.
During the material time, the home ministers were Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (2013-2018), Muhyiddin Yassin (2018-2020), and Hamzah Zainudin (2020-2022).
Lim had asked the Home Ministry to reveal the status of the contracts awarded to Datasonic - whether the contracts will be re-tendered, and whether family members of the former administrations were involved in the deal.
“All contracts are in force and proceeding according to the implementation schedule in the contracts,” said Saifuddin.
Saifuddin did not respond to Lim’s questions about family members of the former administration.
DTSB is a subsidiary of the Datasonic Group Bhd, a listed company.
Saifuddin’s reply did not acknowledge that the current administration had granted DTSB a three-month extension on the contract for the supply of MyKad, MyTentera, MyPoca raw cards, and consumables to the National Registration Department.
This meant that this contract will only expire on May 14.
Of the seven direct-award contracts, six will expire this year.
Lim’s question appeared in the list of written replies on March 29. He shared the reply on his Facebook page yesterday.
On March 31, Datasonic issued a press statement to select media houses explaining that the direct-award contracts were mostly initially won through open tenders.
According to The Edge, the company said that after winning the awards through open tender, it proposed new contracts to the government that resulted in price cuts, and superior product and service quality.
The company said that projects that involved security - such as the supply of MyKad - benefit from direct-award contracts instead of a long tendering process.
“Therefore, we were engaged through a direct negotiation process. It has been a common practice that our price negotiations always result in a 5 to 10 percent price reduction,” claimed Datasonic. - Mkini
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