Rejoinder, our reply

The Northwest Power Generation Company Ltd (NWPGCL) has issued a rejoinder against a news headlined "Bheramara Power Project: Blacklisted co given the job" published in The Daily Star on Sunday.
Below are the relevant content of the rejoinder and our reply:
1.    The contract for Bheramara 360 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant Development Project was signed between NWPGCL and Marubeni Corporation on 16 March, 2014 in presence of guests from Japan Development Board (BPDB), NWPGCL Board, and other stakeholders. So the allegation of signing the contract in secrecy is not true.
2.    The contract was signed 10 days ahead of Marubeni's suspension imposed by JICA on 26 March, 2014. So, there should not be a question of backdated contract signing ceremony.
3.    We signed the contract on March 16, 2014 with a view to saving time and availing the current financial year of JICA closing in March. Otherwise, next disbursement for the project will be in jeopardy since there would have been a huge gap between projection and actual disbursement in the current fiscal year. So, the reporter's claim regarding Marubeni's request for early signing is not at all true.
4.    Regarding LTSA, as per contract, the employer reserves the right to directly contract with Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) instead of the EPC contractors. So, there is no scope to make money by Marubeni as reported.
5.    It is reported “The tender evaluation report oddly mentioned that none of the bidders had met the qualification criteria set by the tender rules”. But the fact is that according to the terms and conditions of the bidding document and the document submitted by the bidders, two bidders have become technically substantially responsive. So the above statement of the reporter is not correct.
6.    Regarding Mitsui and Duro Felguera's technical disqualification on vibration, we would like to mention here that GE and Siemens Turbines were evaluated to be accepted through PQ stage. Technical evaluation of the bidders is made whether the requirement of the Bidding Document is fulfilled or not. For this reason, TEC evaluated the proposal submitted by the bidders and found that the above two bidders failed to meet the vibration requirement which belongs to functional guarantee under rejection clause of the bidding document even after seeking clarifications two times from them. Besides this vibration issue, these two bidders have a few more material deviations.    
Regarding geo-technical risk, right of way of the transmission line and availability of spare parts for 10 years, during Pre-NOA discussion meeting, Marubeni agreed to comply with the terms of the bidding document.   
OUR REPLY
1.    When we contacted the NWPGCL, its top officials admitted that the signing ceremony was organised in a hurry and that a proper ceremony would be re-arranged. Contrary to its own practice, the NWPGCL did not invite the press to cover such big event involving a project worth more than $ 437 million. The rejoinder could have explained why it did not do so.
2.    This does not contradict with the news story.
3.    Since a loan agreement has already been signed between the Jica and the government, Jica's financial year closure deadline should not have bothered NWPGCL.
4.    This does not contradict with the news story as the report did not say Marubeni would make money through LTSA.
5.    The rejoinder left out the other part of the story where it was mentioned that the evaluation report contradictorily qualified two bidders although it had previously disqualified all four.
6.    The rejoinder admits that Marubeni's deviations in its bid in connection with "geo-technical risks, right of way of the transmission line and availability of spare parts" -- were discussed at the pre-agreement stage and Marubeni agreed to comply with the bid document. Section 32.4 of the tender term says unresponsive bids shall be rejected and cannot subsequently be made responsive by correction of the material deviation, reservation or omission. This means, the NWPGCL cannot seek clarification from any bidder over material deviation, omission or reservation, let alone accept Marubeni's offer to comply with bid terms and withdraw the deviation at pre-agreement discussions.
Finally, the fact remains that Marubeni has been fined for corruption three days after the agreement signing and temporarily banned by Jica 10 days after the signing. Marubeni was set to be tried in a US court on this but this settlement was a "plea-bargain" and settled out of court by long negotiation. Thus Marubeni knew it was coming. The fact that Marubeni signed the contract "hurriedly", as candidly admitted by NWPGCL, confirms that Marubeni was aware of the impending Jica ban and wanted to circumvent it by signing the contract beforehand.