'Winner of KLIA air traffic system bid not up to specs'

PKR has alleged the contract to build the air traffic control system for KL International Airport’s (KLIA) second control tower has been awarded to a company that had failed to meet the tender requirements.

PKR vice-president and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said this was despite the project’s consultant Aecom recommending a more capable company for the job.

“Although Aecom’s technical evaluation dated Dec 9, 2011 acknowledged AMP Corporation Sdn Bhd’s (Amcop) ability to execute the project properly and urged for it to be selected, the project was awarded to Advanced Air Traffic Systems (AAT).

“According to the same technical evaluation, the company (AAT) did not meet the technical specifications required for the project,” she said at a press conference today.

According to documents purported to be from Malaysian Airport Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) Special Board Procurement Committee meeting on March 15, the project was awarded to AAT for the lowest bid of RM85.6 million to design, build and test the air traffic control system and train its staff in 14 months at the expanded KLIA, dubbed KLIA 2.

AAT received a score of 75.3 out of 100 after technical, financial and commercial evaluation, of which 48 out of 60 points were awarded for meeting technical requirements.

Its competitor Amcop had offered to do the complete the project in 12 months for RM101.8 million. It received a total score 83.9, of which 51 points were awarded for the technical component.

“Although AAT’s bid was lower than Amcop’s, approval can only be given if AAT fulfils all technical requirements listed,” said Nurul Izzah.

At the press conference, she also showed members of the press a purported copy of Aecom’s technical evaluation, in which all 13 of Amcop’s proposed subsystems received the consultant’s recommendation.

In comparison, only five of AAT’s subsystems received recommendations. Those that failed to meet the mark include surface movement radars, voice switching and communications systems, VHF and emergency VHF radios, and the precision runway monitoring system.

Nurul Izzah described the award of the contract as ‘shocking’ because AAT’s air traffic control system installed at the National Air Traffic Control Centre (NATCC) outside Subang Airport was allegedly faulty.

She had previously made the allegation based on purportedly leaked internal communications from the centre which coordinates all air traffic in peninsula Malaysia, and called for the government to invite the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to audit the nation’s air traffic control system.

However, Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha said in a written reply to the Dewan Rakyat that the system was working fine.

'Exceeding ICAO's safety standard'

Meanwhile, AAT replied that the average availability of its system was 99.97 percent, exceeding ICAO’s safety standard of 99.5 percent.

In addition, an NATCC air traffic controller who declined to be named previously told Malaysiakini that while the internal communications revealed by Nurul Izzah were authentic, the problems were not critical and do not pose a safety issue.

Undeterred, Nurul Izzah told reporters today that the issues affecting NATCC were similar to those which occurred when AAT’s partner and radar systems manufacturer Selex Sistemi Integrati supplied equipment to Cyprus, the project for which was then cancelled.

“If the Cypriot Parliament dared to cancel the project, I urge the Transport Ministry to invite ICAO to audit the system and put an end to doubts on the effectiveness of Malaysia’s radar system once and for all,” she said, noting that the audit is free of charge.

Malaysiakini has contacted AAT for comment on the latest allegations and is waiting for a response.