OPA denies the appeal in part filed by Maritech
(July 8, 2002)
In its latest decision, the Office of the Public Auditor (OPA) denied the appeal in part and affirmed the appeal in part. OPA affirmed the claim by Maritech that Contract No. 378229-OC failed to satisfy the required elements of CNMI Procurement Regulations (CNMI-PR) §3-108 to support the approval of an expedited procurement because the urgency cited resulted from a lack of planning on the part of the CNMI Government. OPA denied Maritech’s claim that A.O. Enterprises violated immigration and business licensing laws which prohibited them from performing the work. The Director of P&S counterclaimed that the appellant 1) failed to sufficiently plead its complaint and 2) that the complaint was filed on frivolous grounds solely for the purpose of harassing the Government. OPA found that the appeal was sufficient in pleading form to satisfy the CNMI-PR requirements and that there were sufficient grounds for filing the appeal.
On July 23, 2002, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Department of Finance, Division of Procurement and Supply (P&S) submitted a Motion for Reconsideration of the Office of the Public Auditor’s Appeal Decision No. BP-A030. Appeal Decision No. BPA030 denied in part and affirmed in part Marianas Information Technology Corporation’s (Maritech) appeal concerning the Department of Finance’s (DOF) issuance of Contract No. 378229-OC to A.O. Enterprises, Inc. (A.O.) for computer maintenance services for the Business Gross Revenue (BGR) and Employer Withholding Receipt (EWR) CNMI Tax Subsystems of the CNMI Department of Finance, Division of Revenue and Taxation.
