I REFER to the letter "Government tenders: Too many flaws in the procedure" by Mohd Rizal  Jaapar (NST,Sept 20)

Being a Class A contractor, I would like to add that the RM1,500 fee is only the tip of the iceberg. My administrative cost is more than triple the cost of purchase of  the tender documents.

We were told the RM1,500 is for photocopying and binding the documents. Photocopying documents over 1,000 pages cannot cost more than RM200, That leaves over RM1,000 for binding. This, I believe, is the cost quoted by binding"agents" or "subcontractors". This has been the practice for over 20 years.

Has the government enquired how useful hard-cover binding (which works out to RM1,300 per bind) is for the contractors? Who decides which binding "agents" get the lucrative assignments?

Sometimes, projects get delayed and the only solution is to extend tender periods. Obviously, extending tender periods is not the answer. The answer lies in selecting the winning contractor and delaying the award to them.

Long tender periods bring about another peculiarity in government tenders - tender addendums (Tender changes)

Changes to project design, details or specifications have been rampant. This is the only place that I know in the world that can have up to five tender addendums per tender issue.

Imagine, five more binding assignments for the binding contractors. There should be no further changes in tenders once issued.

In July and last month, Class A contractors attended road-show presentations organized by the Construction Industry  Development Board to showcase a new online tender system (Neti). The system is a very well thought out and well developed system. It will reduce our tendering costs substantially.

Then we were told it cannot be implemented yet as the government had not decided which projects it wanted to tender out using the new system. What is the government waiting for?