Managaha rights bid raised to OPA

A locally-owned company seeking to operate the Managaha Island has asked the public auditor’s office to decide whether plans of the Board of Public Lands to seek fresh proposals for the development of the premier island resort constitute a violation of the CNMI’s procurement regulations.

The Marianas Marine Management. Inc. has sought the opinion of the Office of the Public Auditor after the Procurement and Supply Division denied the company’s request to stop the BPL from issuing a new RFP.

BPL chairman Tomas B. Aldan said in an interview yesterday the policy-making body will put out an RFP once the appraisal for minimum bid is done.

MMM, whose incorporators include political allies of Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, had protested to the division the board’s plan to re-solicit proposals which it said would be in violation of the procurement regulations. It said BPL should proceed with the selection of the new concessionaire based on the development plans submitted in August, when the first RFP was called.

“Its decision based on its conclusion that since the grant of concession for the operation of Managaha Islands involves no expenditure of public funds, it lacks jurisdiction,” MMM told public auditor Leo L. LaMotte in a three-page letter.

“The Acting Director is incorrect in its decision,” the company said through its legal counsel, Jesus C. Borja.

According to Edward I. Sablan, acting director of the Procurement and Supply Division, the regulations do not apply to the operation of Managaha since the island resort’s development will not involve public funds.

“In this situation the Board of Public Lands will grant franchise or a license for the operation of Managaha as a tourist destination in exchange for…royalties, Sablan explained. “Indeed, this situation is the very opposite of a procurement.”

But Borja argued the exception does not apply to the development of Managaha because a concession is not a sale or a disposal of public lands.

Last August, five other companies submitted proposals to run Managaha, a popular tourist destination west of Saipan, after the contract of Tasi Tours expired in September after four years of operating the tiny island.

However, the board decided to issue a new RFP after law was put in place that gives preferences to NMI descent individuals or corporations to get the concession rights even if their bids are just within 20 percent from the highest offer.