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The Vehicle Maintenance Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (VMCOTT) has quietly issued a tender for the supply of 50 new sedan vehicles for the Police Service.
Originally issued on March 10 with a deadline submission date just one week later on March 17, the tender has upset local auto dealers, who are complaining that it effectively excludes them from participating in the tender and ultimately being unable to supply the cars which will be used for highway patrols and high-speed chases between police and suspected criminals.
The tender was not publicly advertised as is normally the case but was forwarded to local and foreign automobile dealers, VMCOTT confirmed to the Express last week.
The tender was eventually extended and closed on March 25.
Local car dealers, who supplied luxury SUVs for two international business and government conferences last year, said the new tender package seemed more ’unusual’ in that vehicle specifications listed seem to identify only one car that meets the criteria to win the package to supply the Police Service.
FAVOURITE: Australian-made Holden Commodore.
After looking at the specifications last week, sources in the industry suggested that only the Holden car company in Australia has a vehicle - the Commodore sedan - which meets the tender specifications.
Contacted for comment, Philip Knaggs, president of the Automobile Dealers Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ADATT), said: ’From an ADATT perspective, I cannot understand how it is possible that a Government agency can write a tender document that, for no needed reason, excludes all the major automobile manufacturers. I personally have not seen the tender advertised to all via the media, and I also know that all local dealers were not contacted by VMCOTT. Why the exclusion? Why single out a particular brand and model that is not supported locally? Why single out a brand that is not even known to be a large-scale producer of highway patrol vehicles? From an ADATT perspective we would need multiple clarifications from VMCOTT. All of this seems highly unusual. ’
It makes it difficult for local dealers to effectively compete, he suggested.
But VMCOTT chief executive Joel Browne last week told the Express last Tuesday that the tender package was designed to find vehicles that were ’purpose-built’ for the demands of police work.
’One of the things with this tender is that the vehicles will have the power and speed to undertake high-speed chases, will have a high safety rating and will have the technology that gives the ability to stabilise the vehicle,’ he told the Express by phone.
He said VMCOTT did its research and looked at the vehicles British and American police officers used.
Although it was not advertised, Browne said the tender went to the major local auto dealers and overseas.
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nervewrecker wrote:police car?
rfari wrote:Bump. Saw one heading east this evening. No pics tho
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...i loves muscle cars....them Holden is the
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