TSTT on Udecott/Port of Spain hospital bids: Technical glitch not ours

TSTT says it is not the internet service provider for Universal Structures Ltd, and therefore was not responsible for the technical glitch which caused Udecott not to see the company’s submissions for the central block at the Port of Spain General Hospital.

In a release on Wednesday, TSTT said a due-diligence assessment of its information and communications (ICT) infrastructure and cyber security engineers was done after an incident on May 20.

“It revealed that Udecott’s inability to access the bid submission for Universal Structures Ltd was caused by a temporary disruption in internet connectivity with the vendor’s internet provider when the vendor was uploading its company’s bid submission. TSTT is not that vendor’s internet service provider.”

The release said it was critical for TSTT to reiterate that the connectivity issue or “technical glitch” was external to TSTT and the e-Tender platform, and any such attribution was unfounded. It said given recent reports and attempts to challenge the integrity of the platform and the tendering process, TSTT has brought in an external independent party to confirm that all documents were lodged before the closing time and the process was transparent.

TSTT said its e-Tender platform is built on the tenets of transparency, fairness, accountability, and security.

“Developed in accordance with international best practices, e-Tender operates in full compliance with national legislation and has successfully addressed some of the perennial challenges associated with traditional tendering.”

The company said e-Tender is a robust software that is backed by one of the most certified data centres in the region – TSTT’s TIA-942-B Rated 3, DCOS Maturity Level 3, and SOC Type 2 data centre.

The company said it is committed to upholding the tenets upon which the e-Tender platform was built and will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure this.

On Monday, Udecott said in a release, “'TSTT directly attributes this to a temporary disruption in internet connectivity during the upload process,’ which led to the online e-Tender register initially showing two tender submissions, as opposed to the three which were successfully uploaded.”

Opposition MP Dr Roodal Moonilal has repeatedly called on Udecott to restart the bidding process because of the glitch.