Government says Supreme Court cleared it of impropriety in SMART Microsoft tender contract

Published by BBNTEAM at March 4, 2022

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Posted: Friday, March 4, 2022. 7:26 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: This evening, the Government of Belize announced that a ruling by the Supreme Court on Thursday denied judicial review to Senator Michael Peyrefitte and the United Democratic Party in connection with the Microsoft contract, awarded by the Government of Belize through tender, to SMART Belize Limited.

Justice Sonya Young, according to a Government statement, “found that the BZ$3.4-million-dollar contract awarded to SMART for Microsoft 365 licenses for a period of one year was validly and rationally entered into with the government. Additionally, she noted that the bid was the lowest and that there was no bias or appearance of bias associated therewith. Justice Young further underscored the importance of competition for the benefit of the Belizean people.”

Prime Minister and Minister of Finance John Briceño maintained that the Financial Secretary Joseph Waight and civil servants acted to beat a deadline for the expiration of the licenses without which daily Government functions would have been crippled and that he personally was not kept abreast of what was going on.

The Government says it “welcomes the ruling delivered by Justice Young and remains steadfast in its commitment to good governance as outlined in Plan Belize.”

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