A former Ministry of Education Comptroller claimed last night that a successful bid for the fitting-out of the new campus at Berkeley Institute made by his company was snatched away without explanation.

Harrichand Sukdeo, who co-owns EdTech together with PLP Senator Neville Tyrell and Ewen Maclean, said there is unresolved business between his company and the Ministry of Education as a result.

The government confirmed last night that Conyers and Associates ? the other company shortlisted with EdTech for the job ? has actually won the contract.

Mr. Sukdeo said: ?For the Ministry to say we were not successful is only partly true. When we made the first bid we were told verbally in spring this year that we were in fact successful and we proceeded to begin the planning process.

?About a month later we were called to a meeting with the Permanent Secretary who advised us to stop doing what we were doing and said that they were going to re-tender it.?

He said that he did not know the reason for this, but rejected as ?ludicrous? any suggestion that it may have been deemed inappropriate for himself as former Comptroller and Mr. Tyrell as a PLP Senator to have tendered a bid in the first place.

?That?s not fair at all. While I was Comptroller I chaired a team involved with fitting out CedarBridge Academy. We were very well-qualified to do the (Berkeley) job,? he said.

?There was no undue influence at all.?

He explained that EdTech was formed around two years to become involved in various educational projects, not just the Berkeley Institute job.

But he added that the Berkeley matter was ?not settled with the Ministry at all? and that the issue was ?outstanding? as far as EdTech is concerned despite the contract having been awarded to another company.

He declined to comment on the value of his company?s bid, or how it planned to resolve the issue.

A Ministry of Education spokesperson last night denied that a contract had been offered to EdTech and then withdrawn.

He said that a number of companies had responded to the request for bids and that a team consisting of representatives from the Department of Education, Works and Engineering, Management Services and the Government Information Technology Office reviewed the responses and eliminated all but two of the respondents who were then asked to respond to a Request for Proposal.

?The RFP responses were reviewed by the same government team. The candidates were interviewed and Conyers and Associates were deemed the best company to handle the project. The decision was sent to Cabinet for approval.

?Conyers satisfied all the requirements of the RFP which included a consideration of their financial stability, business practices, and their proven track record in fitting out commercial and other institutions in Bermuda,? he said.