KUALA LUMPUR: The Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM) has requested that the Finance Ministry (MoF) reconsider its recent decision to drop 33 Bumiputera furniture companies from the Centralised Contract Panel (KPB) list.
In a statement, the MTEM said the move was seen as being unfair to the concerned companies under the patronage of the Malaysian Bumiputera Furniture Industry Association (Petra).
It said the decision was noted when updating the list of KPB panel companies for supplying and delivering various types of furniture to different government agencies in peninsular Malaysia.
“A total of 33 companies or 38% of the 87 listed to supply furniture to government agencies were dropped effective July 15, 2019. The axing was the result of the companies not having obtained the Product Certification Services (PCS) from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) within the stipulated period.
“The axing from the MoF procurement list did not take into consideration the reasons, testing status, as well who was in the wrong in this context, but instead took the easy way out by by stating they had not obtained the PCS before June 28, 2019,” MTEM added.
According to the association, the decision was unfair as the period for testing as well as time to obtain the PCS was beyond the control of the companies, which had followed all the process and time frame set by FRIM.
It also said the companies dropped had their own furniture manufacturing factories and had been in operation for more than 20 years with wide experience and recognition, but still failed to receive the PCS before the set date. — Bernama
