Construction of a helipad serving the Solea-Marathasa region in the community of Linou has been cleared to proceed, with the contract awarded to Iacovou Brothers (IACOVOU BROTHERS (CONSTRUCTIONS) LTD) at €4.268m excluding VAT, or approximately €5.079m including VAT.
The helipad is intended primarily for firefighting helicopters tackling forest fires and other large blazes, and secondarily for rescue operations when needed.
The decision to build the helipad was taken following the deadly 2016 Solea fire, which killed two people and destroyed approximately 15 square kilometres of forest.
Construction was cleared after the Tenders Review Authority dismissed an appeal by a company that had been excluded from the tender on the grounds that its bid was deemed abnormally low.
That bid, at €3.599m, was 22% below the project’s estimated value of €4.5m. The Authority concluded the company had likely miscalculated the concrete surface area required, putting it at 3,312 square metres rather than the actual 11,000 square metres.
In its ruling, the Authority stated: “It does not escape us that the criterion for characterising a tender as abnormally low is whether the difference between the tender price and the estimated value is such that, in conjunction with the other elements, it raises doubts in the contracting authority about the seriousness of the tender.”
Three bids were submitted in total. A third company bid €4.395m but was excluded after failing to respond to requests for clarification. The winning bid from Iacovou Brothers came in 5% below the estimated project value — a deviation the Authority did not consider sufficient to raise concerns about abnormally low pricing.
Bids falling more than 20% below the estimated value are typically examined for abnormally low pricing; the same 20% threshold applies in the opposite direction for abnormally high tenders.
Construction is expected to take 14 months, with a defects and maintenance liability period of 12 years.