According to court witness town councillor Kenneth Foo on Friday (Oct 26), the PAP-owned facilities management company CPG demanded to terminate its contract immediately after the opposition party won the Aljunied constituency.
This sabotage by CPG resulted in the WP MPs having only 2 months left to appoint a new managing agent for the town council. The witness stated that a normal tender of the size would take about 3 months:
“Most tenders would take around two to three months, and thus AHTC would not have enough time to call for a tender as incumbent managing agent CPG Facilities Management had asked to withdraw by Aug 1, 2011.”
As a result, no tender was called and the decision was unanimously handed over to MP Sylvia Lim to expedite the process of having a functional managing agent to prevent disruptions to council services in the constituency. Town councillor Kenneth Foo testified that the decision to waive the tender was required as there was no time:
“It was a short timeline to take over the town, especially as there were a number of things to settle to ensure a smooth transition.”
The town councillor also explained that MP Sylvia Lim did not give details of the new managing agent at the meeting as it was only for information and clarifications, and not for discussion.
PAP-hired senior counsel Davinder Singh argued that CPG would extend their contract if only the WP asked, but the witness disagreed and revealed CPG’s intention to sabotage the town council.