Why we should not have Open Tenders

Malaysia have again gone against conventional wisdom and come up trumps by forsaking the widely accepted practise of having open tenders for construction and supply contracts.It can be easily proven that there is more negatives of Open Tenders that far outweighs its usefulness.

Let me enlighten the bewildered on the sharp and focused thinking of our good leaders that have led to the adoption of negotiated tenders.

1. Open Tenders is BAD for the ENVIRONMENT >>in an open tender,documents are issued to interested parties for submission of their priced bids.These documents also includes stacks of drawings making it a very thick total package of a few tons.And as there will many tenderers,there will be tons and tons of paper,gallons of ink,litres of glue and not to forget the destructive heavy metals in the staples.And the tenderers will need to use paper,ink and electricity (from coal powered plants ) to price their bids.All in all,it will be a huge big mess for the environment and the future of our children.
2. Open Tenders is BAD for FAMILIES >> To price for a tender properly ,hundreds of manhours are necessary.And in an open tender ,prices must be extremely competitive thus even more effort is needed to come up with a reliable costing.Multiply that by the number of people bidding,and you can just imagine the number of children without their parents...who are toiling away throughout the night working the numbers.This will impact on the family unit and if not addressed early will lead to a future generation of maladjusted children.IN a negotiated project the margins of 40% slapped on top of the cost means only minimal work as there is sufficient margin for errors...and it involves only a small select group.
3. Open Tenders creates animosity and bad for UNITY>>In open tenders,there is competition.Its a barbaric event not unlike the graditorial fights in the Roman times.Do we want to regress into such barbaric times?Do we want someone to win and gloat over the many many losers?Its not the formula if we are striving for a close knit unity nation.
   
4. Open Tenders creates SOCIAL PROBLEMS >> In an open tender,there will be many parties vying to be the winner.AS such,each will be working hard to lobby and improve their chances.The lobbying will involve all stages and also many people...thus the karaoke lounge and massage parlours will be quite busy places.This will create social problems on a LARGE SCALE across a broad distribution within the Malaysian society.In this regards a negotiated contract will involve only a small group and is often the practise,more of the lobbying is done overseas thus reducing immorality in our country
5. Open Tenders creates wide scale CORRUPTION>>as explained in 4..open tenders requires lobbying by many to many at all levels.Obviously,an essential would be the lubrication,the baksheeesh...and with this "many to many" scenario,the practise will become a norm and widespread at all levels of the society.In negotiated contracts corruption, if any is more self contained to a select group thus ensuring that the average people are protected from such evils.
6. Open Tenders provides SUCCESS to the country>>Malaysia have one of the biggest population of exotic and expensive imported cars,watches,fashion etc...and also big huge mansions and Rm3000 per ft2 condominiums.This fantastic success will not be possible with open tenders..with the low margins,contractors will be lucky to survive and be able to afford even a Honda Cub and an alarm clock.

There are many2 more reasons of why Open Tenders is so old hat and not the best practise.Suffice the 6 above to start the thinking process for us to appreciate how smart and how much foresight our political leaders have.