THE army’s procurement of self-propelled howitzers (SPH) is ongoing and no company has been awarded the contract.
Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who confirmed this, said the SPH contract has yet to be awarded and negotiations between the Defence Ministry (Mindef) and Finance Ministry (MoF) is still in progress.
“I would like to stress that we have yet to award SPH to any company and negotiations are still on.
“The awarding process does not involve Mindef alone, but other agencies as well.
“Therefore, I am not sure if yesterday’s revelation was to create doubt.
“(But) In today’s political landscape, all kinds of things will be revealed.
“As such, we hope all parties will be rational and allow the process to run as usual,” he told the media in Sungai Besi today.
Hishammuddin said it is not necessary to make the matter public, as the tender has not yet been awarded to any company.
Yesterday (Oct 4), PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli revealed that the tender for the procurement of SPH for the army, involving an allocation of RM854 million, was not through limited tender, and he alleged that it was awarded directly to a company that had only been established for two years.
According to Rafizi, the order was issued by the prime minister and finance minister for direct tender with MA Analytics Sdn Bhd, despite having no experience in the field.
He also claimed that Mindef made an application to MoF for the procurement to be carried out according to a limited tender, as per practice in the procurement of defence equipment, but it was rejected.
-BTS Media
