Government was last night accused of giving handouts to “friends”, “ace boys” and “cronies” after it admitted awarding a contract without inviting bids.

A company run by Donal Smith, a cousin of Premier Ewart Brown, has been chosen to manage the Government’s vehicle emission control testing programme after it was decided to outsource it away from the Transport Control Department to the private sector.

Dr. Brown said in a written response to a parliamentary question on the topic that Bermuda Emissions Control Ltd was picked by Cabinet “in light of demonstrated cutting edge expertise in the relevant area” and its work in delivering a report on vehicle emissions to the House of Assembly.

But Shadow Transport Minister Bob Richards claimed yesterday that the decision had “the smell of cronyism and the flavour of banana, as in banana republic”.

He said: “The answers show the selection process is fatally flawed. There was no tendering process: no bids were obtained from interested parties.”

Senator Richards said a competitive process would have promoted efficiency, lower fees, cost management and a commitment to economic empowerment.

“Economic empowerment is not handouts to friends, ace boys or cronies,” he said. “It is a process based on fairness to provide opportunities for small businesses to compete.

“Government’s actions with respect to emission control fall squarely into the cronyism category, not economic empowerment.”

Mr. Smith is understood to be related to Dr. Brown on his mother’s side. Sen. Richards agreed that the size of Bermuda meant some contracts would inevitably be awarded to friends or relatives of Cabinet Ministers but added: “If you have a proper process then you can protect yourself from these accusations.”

The Opposition politician argued that it was wrong to only allow one supplier to provide the emission testing service, creating a monopoly.

“There must be many auto garages that would love to offer this service,” he said. “By having several providers the revenue would be spread more widely throughout the economy.”

The value of the contract awarded to Bermuda Emissions Control is not known. Dr. Brown ‘s written answer said the company already conducted vehicle testing at a cost of $29 for four-wheeled vehicles and $20 for motorcycles. Emissions testing will cost an additional $15 and $10 respectively.

Sen. Richards said the figures suggested the company could be in line to earn more than a $1 million a year if it collected all the fees. Bermuda Emissions Control hit the headlines in 2002 when it was awarded the vehicle safety testing contract. Dr. Brown said at the time that awarding contracts without going to tender was sometimes done when there was only one company in the field.

His cousin’s firm was in talks with the former UBP Government before the PLP came to power after it drafted legislation on pollution testing.

Neither the Premier nor the Ministry of Transport responded to questions on the subject last night. Mr. Smith could not be contacted.