PRO-ACTIVE A MYSTERY Controversy surrounding the favoured bidder of the Berkeley Institute contract took a further turn last night when it was discovered the lone shareholder recently acquired the stocks on May 8 of this year.

Limestone Nominees Ltd. bought all of the shares in Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. just days ago, reports The Royal Gazette's Karen Smith on One of the companies vying for the $70 million Berkeley Institute contract said it would consider taking legal action if Government failed to award it the job, The Royal Gazette has learned.

BermudaTech has written to the Ministry of Works and Engineering voicing concerns over the way the tendering process has been carried out for the mammoth project.

President Jonathan Baxter said BermudaTech put in the lowest bid for the job, and has experience developing three other schools on the Island, so should therefore be the natural choice.

He said the 14-day extension for the tenders ran out on Monday and nobody from the ministry had asked him to extend it, so he claimed his bid was now invalid.

And he said he had not heard from the department since April 3, and the favoured bidder was rumoured to be Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd., which led him to believe that he had been unsuccessful.

However, he said BermudaTech put in a price for the contract just short of $65 million -- about $5 million less than Pro-Active.

Mr. Baxter claimes BermudaTech has a proven track record on the Island, where as Pro-Active has been registered for just more than a year and is little known.

"I feel like the contract has been lost and I don't understand why,'' said Mr. Baxter.

"We are building Spice Valley Middle School, we have done Sandys and West Pembroke, and all have been delivered on time and on budget.

"We were pre-qualified and we are a registered contractor -- we have done schools before.

"We have never been through anything like this. We have met all the requirements. To us, it was almost a fait accompli. I believe that if we don't get it, there has to be some ulterior motive.

Contractor fears `ulterior motive' in Berkley bids "There is a $5 million difference here in price and that is a lot of money.'' Mr. Baxter, who co-owns BermudaTech with Maurice Caines, Terry Griffiths, and David Sinclair and has a staff of about 68, said the firm had also been involved with the building of CedarBridge Academy.

He said as far as he could see, there was no reason why Government should consider going with a more expensive bid.

The president said he had called the ministry a number of times, but nobody was able to tell him what was going on.

"We expected to be treated fairly and we expected the process to be a level playing field, but we don't think it has been,'' Mr. Baxter added.

"We have spent a lot of money putting this bid together -- I'm talking tens of thousands of dollars. It is not something we take lightly.

"We have written to the ministry asking what is going on, and if we do not get the job we will be seeking recourse. We will consider taking some form of legal action.

"If they go with Pro-Active I hope they have a damn good excuse for spending $5 million more than they had to.'' And asked whether he would bid for another Government contract, he added: "What's the sense? I can't see a level playing field.'' This is not the first bout of controversy to hit the project.

Minister Mr. Scott has refused to name who the chosen contractor will be, but he said a decision had been made.

And he said he expected to make the decision public next Thursday, and promised that he would be "fully transparent'' on the project.

Claims have been made in the media that Government was under enormous pressure to grant the contract to Pro-Active because its principals had strong ties with the PLP.

Mr. Scott has denied there is any rift in Cabinet over the issue.

Pro-Active has refused to comment on the issue. The directors of Pro-Active are president Arthur Ebbin, Gavin Simmons and Cavon Steede.

Mr. Scott has also faced a barrage of criticism over the contract after offering $250,000 of taxpayers' money to the chosen contractor as an incentive for them to hire Bermudians.

For every local they hire, they will receive a cash bonus.

Both Pro-Active and BermudaTech have offered to spend the incentive cash on training young people, and Mr. Scott has already been involved in talks with the National Training Board and the BIU.

Despite the controversy, Mr. Scott said he was pleased the issue was at last being discussed.

The Royal Gazette was unable to contact Mr. Scott last night over the claims made by BermudaTech, but yesterday morning he said all the final touches were being put to the successful bid.

He said: "I am extremely encouraged by the way things are developing.

"The Government's expectations and my expectations for the involvement of all levels of Bermudians in this major project have been exceeded.'' Page 2.