The West End Development Corporation has released the results of tenders for the completion of the walls and infill for the land reclamation project in the South Basin.

Jay Cashman Inc, based in the United States, was announced as the preferred bidder for the pile walls, capping and placement of fill, and Canada-based RA Murray for the supply and delivery of imported fill.

Yesterday, Wayne Furbert, the Progressive Labour Party MP, said in a statement that two non-Bermudian firms being awarded the contracts “without an open tender, follows the OBA pattern of secrecy, lack of transparency and failing to provide equal and fair opportunities to Bermudians”.

But in a statement released yesterday evening, Wedco chairman Raymond Charlton and general manager Andrew Dias said they released two tenders for the completion of the walls and infill of the project, which will host the venue for the 35th America’s Cup.

“Initially the area was to be filled with dredge material from the North and or South Channel and shortfall made up with additional aggregate,” they said.

“Upon further analysis taking in consideration environmental impact, engineering assessments, time and costs, it was determined that the entire requirement should be imported.”

The first tender, released on May 1 and closed on June 8, for the pile walls, capping and placement of fill, saw 15 companies collect bid documents and three bids received.

The second tender, released on June 9 and closed on June 29, was for the supply and delivery of imported fill — 12 companies collected bid documents and three bids were received. A matrix where 50 per cent was weighted for quality and performance and 50 per cent was financial was used to evaluate the tenders.

According to the statement, the preferred bidder for the first tender was Jay Cashman Inc, and RA Murray for the second tender, but Wedco has been advised that “local labour will be employed as much as possible”.

Both bidders will undergo a value engineering exercise “to ensure the project will be delivered within the total budget before final contracts are executed”.

The total budget for the delivery of the land reclamation project, which includes the recently installed bridge and the realignment of the approach to the bridge, is $39 million. Mr Furbert, the Shadow Minister of Economic Development, said: “The announcement by Wedco that two non-Bermudian firms have been awarded contracts that combined are allegedly as much as $50 million without an open tender, follows the OBA pattern of secrecy, lack of transparency and failing to provide equal and fair opportunities to Bermudians.

“With the awarding of these contracts to non-Bermudian companies, millions of dollars are likely to flow out of Bermuda.

“In contrast, local companies would have pumped this money back into our economy, directly and positively benefiting Bermudians.”

Mr Furbert questioned why there was no open tender process, how many companies entered bids, what prices were received, what process was used to select contractors and which local and foreign companies tendered. He called on Grant Gibbons, the Minister of Economic Development, and Craig Cannonier, the Minister of Public Works, “to end the secrecy, stop the lack of transparency and come clean on the details surrounding the awarding of these contracts to two non-Bermudian companies”.