File photos
LEFT: Alicia Foster, vice-president of Guardian Life, says there is a "strong possibility" the life insurance company would try again for the GEASO health- scheme contract.
RIGHT: Richard Byles, president of Life of Jamaica, said his company had observed every requirement of the bidding process.

Life of Jamaica (LOJ) has declared its peeve at a decision by the Bruce Golding administration to retender the Government Employees Administrative Services Only (GEASO) health scheme, but has no plans to contest it.

Instead, Barbados-owned LOJ, the island's largest insurance company, which emerged as the preferred bidder last year when the contract was put to competitive tender for the first time in 10 years, says it awaits the formal request for new bids.

"We strongly believe in the bidding process that ensures transparency, equity and competitive pricing," said LOJ in a press release.

"Through this process, LOJ has won and lost many contracts over the years. However, this is the first occasion in which the outcome has resulted in a retender."

Guardian shows hand

Trinidad-owned Guardian Life, run by Earl Moore, while not fully confirming its participation again, signalled it was preparing to compete for the contract.

"There is a very strong likelihood that we will participate in any new tender proposition," said Alicia Foster, vice-president, Employee Benefits division.

Blue Cross of Jamaica is on record saying a retender was unnecessary, and that a review of the bid evaluations that were done under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance would have been the more judicious course.

LOJ's initial selection was down-cried by the unions, under whose pressure the former People's National Party administration caved in. While the National Contracts Commission had endorsed the LOJ selection as passing all the requisite tests for a competitive bid, Cabinet did not follow through on the next step - giving its approval to the contract award.

The issue was put back to committee for consideration, giving round one to the unions.

Blue Cross, which would be losing more than $200 million of income if it lost the GEASO contract, is in the exclusive business of health insurance, while LOJ, which is owned by Sagicor, offers life insurance as its core business, with health coverage as an added component.

"We have observed every requirement of the bidding process and were very pleased to see that our bid was the most cost-effective and would have resulted in substantial savings to taxpayers," said President and CEO Richard Byles.

lavern.clarke@gleanerjm.com