Influential notes still hover around bids<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Personal memorandums aimed at influencing
\nselection in tenders are still widespread, a leader of the
\nAssociation of Indonesian Builders said.<\/p>\n
Daniel Hutapea, leader of the association's city branch, said
\nyesterday these memorandums, known as surat sakti (powerful
\nmemos) come from high ranking officials in the government,
\npolitical parties and mass organizations.<\/p>\n
Daniel asked that all project officers submit these
\nmemorandums to the association, who would make them public.<\/p>\n
\"When we visited a number of city agencies we found there are
\nstill many memorandums which influence the bidding process for
\nmunicipality projects,\" Daniel said after submitting a list of
\ncontractors to the Central Jakarta mayoralty and the city's fire
\ndepartment.<\/p>\n
The Antara news agency quoted Daniel as saying that the fire
\ndepartment is one of the city agencies which receives many of
\nthese memorandums.<\/p>\n
Daniel also urged project officers to be courageous in
\nrejecting the requests made in these memorandums. Parties which
\nshould be rejected are also those which do not have association
\nmembership cards, he said.<\/p>\n
Based on a gubernatorial instruction, all bidding participants
\nmust be members of the association to ease control over builders
\nwho breach contracts.<\/p>\n
Daniel said the association had reached an agreement with the
\ncity tax office on overcoming the problem of lost accounts.<\/p>\n
He said most builders' employees are contract-based instead of
\nregular workers, which might partially be why the accounts get
\nlost.<\/p>\n
To overcome this problem the city tax office and the
\nassociation agreed on a 1.5 percent tax cut from the total
\nproject value, without the prior inspection of accounts by tax
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
This method is already applied by the tax office to real
\nestate developers, Daniel added. (anr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/influential-notes-still-hover-around-bids-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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