A marine contractor has questioned the tendering process for the new cruise ship pier contract.

William Lawrence, of Lawrence Marine, was one of three contractors invited to interview by project managers Entech Ltd.

The three companies Correia Construction Company Ltd., Lawrence Marine, and Bermuda Salvage and Wrecking Co. were then told to submit a letter of expression of interest and a company profile if they wanted to be considered.

Mr. Lawrence said they were told the $35 million Dockyard project was not a competitive rate tender but a negotiated rate contract, which means the contractor's rates on equipment rental, labour, material costs, pile driving, and so on, had to be agreed by the engineer (Entech) and project owner (Government).

He said despite submitting his letter, he never received a response. "I don't think this process was fair," he said. "I never even received a reply. Not even a phone call or fax or letter to say, 'thank you for your letter' and to tell me I didn't get the job.

"So that speaks volumes to me about the process. Nobody has contacted me from Entech ever since that day. It's discourteous."

Mr. Lawrence said he met Frank Reed of Entech "on or about January 22, 2007" and was interviewed for 40 minutes.

"I was shown a glossy set of documents and we discussed my capabilities, and then they were compared to Correia's. We spent most of the meeting speaking about his [Correia owner Dennis Correia's] capabilities, and it was evident that I had no chance.

"The meeting was all about: do you have the ability; do you have the equipment? My answer to that was 'anything extra I can outsource'. "The impression I got from Entech was that Correia didn't need to do that, that he had everything."

Mr. Lawrence said his company's portfolio of marine construction was similar to Correia's, and he had completed three Government contracts "on time and on budget" the Swing Bridge rehabilitation 2002, Causeway refurbishment 2003 and Watford Bridge repainting 2004.

He said Lawrence Marine also has business relationships with Allsteel Coatings Ltd. and Beaver Marine, of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Allsteel Coatings has expertise in steel fabrication, piling, cranes and boom trucks, along with a civil structural, design build division. Projects it has worked on include the aforementioned Government contracts.

Beaver Marine is the East coast division of Canadian contracting firm McNally International Inc. McNally Construction established its marine construction division in the 1990s after purchasing the marine assets of several companies.

The firm's website says "these assets make up one of the best equipped and manned construction fleets anywhere in Canada".

Recent projects have included the $37 million Bear Head LNG Terminal (Nova Scotia), to receive ships transporting liquefied natural gas from overseas (completed Spring 2007), and the $3 million reconstruction of the Shell Canada Refinery North Dock (Ontario), (completed April 2007).

In his company profile submitted to Entech, Mr. Lawrence stated: "Any size project can be undertaken and completed successfully with the combined resources of this group of companies."

His letter of interest for the cruise ship pier stated: "The team that we have assembled, and is detailed in our company profile document, are ready to begin the process of pricing this project, subject to receipt of the necessary documents.

"In anticipation of a further meeting with yourself, I have alerted Mr. Mark Cooper of Allsteel and Mr. John Whalen of Beaver Marine to the possibility of travelling to Bermuda in the immediate future."

Entech however, never replied and Mr. Lawrence later discovered the contract had been awarded to Correia. Correia Construction was informed it had been awarded the contract on March 7. Mr. Reed has since left the Island and was unavailable for comment yesterday. Entech did not return our requests for comment on three occasions.

Mr. Lawrence took issue with the recent advertisement by Correia, printed in response to The Royal Gazette's investigation into the cost overruns on the project. An advertisement in both The Royal Gazette and The Sun by Correia Construction on November 18 explained how the company had obtained the contract.

"Initially the Bermudian marine contractors were invited to interview for the project by Entech Ltd. and Correia emerged successful," said the company.

"Since 1972 Correia Construction has built almost every dock, pier or terminal on Island and has much experience in this line of work. "A Letter of Intent notifying Correia of its successful bid was given to them on March 7, 2007 by the Ministry of Tourism and Transport although the official contract was not signed until April 13, 2007."

But Mr. Lawrence pointed out that no one had built a dock of that size previously in Bermuda, and asked why the project was not shared among the several marine contractors on the Island.

"A project of this magnitude would have been excellent to have included all of Bermuda's contractors in," he said. "We all could have been involved in some way, shape or form."

In Mr. Lawrence's letter of interest to Entech, dated January 30, 2007, he called for the project to be tendered.

"Whilst the idea of being involved in a negotiated rate contract from the start is very interesting, I personally believe that the best possible value for the Government and the Bermuda public would be achieved through the traditional competitive tender process," the letter stated.

"Would not a competitive tender on the main aspects of the project not be prudent? This could then be used as a basis for the negotiated contract with the most competitive respondent.

"Or alternatively, as the project is of sufficient size, could it not be let in two or three distinct projects/contracts?".

Mr. Lawrence said yesterday: "There should have been a competitive tender. How can something which has now cost $60 million go out without tender documents? If we'd had the three companies, Correia, Bermuda Salvage, and Lawrence Marine involved in a competitive tender or pricing process, then this would have provided the avenue to ask questions of the engineer, which hopefully would have removed some of the changes that have occurred to this point."

Last month The Royal Gazette revealed its findings into an investigation into how costs for the new dock rocketed by 70 percent from an original budget of $35 million to $60 million.

Among the findings of the investigation were that:

Ÿ Two vibratory hammers to drive the pile foundations were billed as an extra, under the $3.7 million for "dolphin mitigation";

Ÿ The design of the thruster wall a barrier against sediment surge from ship propellers, changed four times according to Correia, tagging millions of dollars onto the project;

Ÿ The terminal building doubled in price to $3.9 million.

The Royal Gazette this week asked Government to explain the selection process for the Dockyard project, the role of Entech and of the Ministry of Tourism and Transport in choosing the contractor.

Cabinet Secretary Marc Telemaque said: "These questions have been answered previously and in detail."`