Open prequalification to procure Phase 1B of Pan Borneo Highway project

KOTA KINABALU (July 9): The procurement method for Phase 1B of the Pan Borneo Highway project is open prequalification.

With this method, only companies that qualify in the first stage pre-qualification criteria are invited to participate in the second stage tender. This will reduce the time required for tender processing and evaluation, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya.

Shahelmey who is also State Works Minister, said this in reply to nominated assemblyman Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee who wanted to know what is the state government doing to speed up the tender process for the Pan-Borneo project as mentioned by the Prime Minister in May when he closed the Kaamatan Festival celebration.

According to Shahelmey, the government is committed to ensuring that the project is implemented according to the initial plan, which includes appointing all remaining 19 work packages this year.

“Four contractors have been appointed and have commenced construction since April 2024 while the remaining 15 work packages for the Pan Borneo Highway Phase 1B are currently in the final evaluation process of the open pre-qualification tender.

“These packages have been evaluated and submitted to the Federal Government. The Procurement Boards of the Ministry of Works Malaysia met on July 3, 2024, and will subsequently submit the results to the Ministry of Finance for final decision. The Letters of Acceptance (LOA) to the contractors are expected to be issued in the third quarter of this year,” he disclosed.

Overall, out of the total 35 packages for the Pan Borneo Phase 1A and 1B Projects, four packages have been completed, 15 are under construction and 16 are in the procurement stage.

The government, he said, has allocated RM26.3 billion to complete the 35 work packages of Pan Borneo Phase 1, with the total construction cost estimated at RM18.5 billion.

To Senallang assemblyman Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal’s query if the Pan Borneo appointment process be managed as an open tender as a whole, he explained that the pre-qualification method implemented was based on an open tender.

“It was advertised … and all contractor companies that met the pre-qualification requirements within Malaysia were invited to participate,” he said, adding that a total of 194 companies participated in the pre-qualification session, including companies from Sabah, Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak.

Out of the 194 companies that participated in the open pre-qualification, 113 qualified to proceed to the tender stage, he said and disclosed that the pre-qualification was divided into two stages; the first stage assessed criteria such as financial capability, technical ability and human resource capacity.

After the first stage of pre-qualification, price tenders were called involving the 113 companies that qualified in the open pre-qualification tender and among them 59 were from Sabah, seven from Sarawak and 47 from Peninsular Malaysia.

Replying to Yong’s additional question on who has the authority to appoint the contractors, Shahelmey said that as the project is funded by the Federal Government, the appointment procedure follows the guidelines set by the Ministry of Finance.

This was the result of discussions between the Ministry of Works Malaysia and the Sabah Public Works Department.

“In this procurement process, we have conducted a pre-qualification process. After the pre-qualification session, the tender evaluation is carried out by the Sabah Public Works Department.

“The results of this tender evaluation are then submitted to the Federal Procurement Board, chaired by the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Works Malaysia. The decisions of the Procurement Board will be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance Malaysia for the Federal Finance Minister to finalize the appointments, and subsequently, the appointment process will be carried out,” he said.