The Opposition is crying foul after it emerged a builder chosen for a multi-million dollar Government contract is a major shareholder in the company which made the selection.

As revealed in The Royal Gazette Dennis Correia has 30 percent of the shares of Bermuda Emissions Control (BEC) which picked his firm Correia Construction to build three emissions testing centres.

Correia will pick up the bulk of the $8.6 million contract but the process was not put out to open tender by BEC ¿ instead a couple of project management firms each put a price on the building work to see how it compared with Correia's.

Last night Opposition deputy leader Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said: "The United Bermuda Party thinks the deal stinks, for a lot of reasons.

"The deal says to us that the government is not interested in spending taxpayer dollars in a cost-effective manner.

"The fact that the $8.6 million contract did not go to tender means that no effort was made to find the lowest bid."

She questioned why BEC tendered the contract and not Government considering it was public money and she wondered why Works and Engineering wasn't involved ¿ which is normally the case when government disperses tax dollars for capital works.

And she said the fact that the Cabinet Secretary did not appear to know the Department of Works and Engineering was not involved gave cause for further concern about oversight.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin continued: "We are also left wondering how to square the Cabinet Secretary's comment that the contract was sole sourced because of its 'specialized' nature with the contractor's comment that the buildings he is to build are 'very, very simple.'

"We have to ask what was so exceptional about this contract that the government bypassed its own policy to tender contracts valued at more than $50,000?"

Mr. Correia is a friend of Premier Ewart Brown and his wife is running for the Progressive Labour Party at the next election.

Mr. Correia and his BEC partner Donal Smith had defended the deal saying it was a culmination of a plan begun under the UBP.

But Mrs Gordon-Pamplin said to suggest the contract award was somehow connected to her party was 'laughable'.

She agreed emissions testing was explored in the final years of the UBP Government with Donal Smith.

"We encouraged his work. But that was a long time ago and to suggest some sort of connection between that early relationship and this $8.6 million contract award is grossly misleading.

"We would have put the contract out to tender. That was our policy. That public money is being spent without Government giving the public a chance to bid for it is outrageous."

Under the PLP government, rules appear to have been rewritten or ignored to enhance relationships that exist between the government and party stalwarts, said Mrs Gordon-Pamplin.

"The lines of demarcation have been terribly blurred and the taxpayer will never know if there has been value for money in this process. That's a shame.

"Bermuda needs a more open, transparent and accountable government."

Bermuda Emissions Control was formed by Donal Smith and Joel Maderios in 1996 and Mr. Correia bought into the firm in 2003.

Work began in January for the satellite testing stations in Rockaway and Southside and in the middle of last month for the main site at the Transport Control Department's North Street HQ.

Cabinet Secretary Marc Telemaque told Monday's Royal Gazette that it had been a sole source contract based on the experience of the contractor in the building method, specialized form of construction and equipment installation.

Asked about what controls were in place to stop Correia Construction from naming its own price for the work Mr. Telemaque said all contracts were vetted, costed out and signed off by the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

However Works and Engineering said they were not involved. Mr. Telemaque then said Transport was the contracting department and any such a job would have been approved by Cabinet. And he said the taxpayer would not risk losing out because the budget would not be exceeded.

Correia Construction is putting up the buildings, BEC is providing the equipment and TCD will handle the outfitting of the offices, said Mr. Correia, who estimated the satellites would cost around $500,000 while North Street will cost around $3.5 million.