SHAH ALAM: Winners of FAST helmet tenders. Back in July 2021, Malaysian Defence wrote about a Request For Bid (RFB) or tender for the supply and delivery of five-hundred and sixty-nine Future Advanced Shell Technology (FAST) ballistic helmets for a three-year period for the Joint Force.
A check on the Eperolehan website today showed that the company which won the bid was KDI Garments Sdn Bhd> with the Letter of Award (LOA or contract) of RM1.456 million. A Google search showed that KDI Garments is a women clothing company based in Seremban, Negri Sembilan.
Shortly after the FAST helmet tender for the Joint Force closed in September 2021, another tender for FAST helmets was published by Eperolehan in November 2021 and closed on January 21, 2022. The tender for the supply and delivery of the FAST helmets, was for the Army, which sought 1306 examples. Usahawan PSE Sdn Bhd was the company that won the tender and awarded the LOA of RM3.983 million. Usahawan PSE and its subsidiaries have been supplying assorted items to the Defence Ministry since mid-2000s. It must be noted that both tenders were issued by the Procurement Division of the Defence Ministry.
On March 3, last year, the Ordnance Group of the Army issued another RFB for one hundred and fourty-two FAST ballistic helmets. The RFB opening and closing date was seven days as the closing date was on March 10. Usahawan PSE was awarded the LOA of RM418,900.
Not much interesting, isn’t it? I thought so as well but my interest in the tenders was perked up when I read that a retired Army major-general had a lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the management on the purchase of ballistic helmets. The retired officer had publicised the report on January 7 on his social media post. I have no idea whether the report was in connection with the above three tenders, but it will be interesting, to say the least, if anything will come up following the report. (The officer confirmed today on his social media that the report was lodged for the second tender of FAST helmets)
— Malaysian Defence
View Comments (10)
So
1st order was RM 2.5k per FAST
2nd order was RM 3.0k per FAST
3rd order was RM 2.9k per FAST
Interesting? oh yes, there was a RM 500 price increase from 1st (KDI) to 2nd/3rd (PSE).
Could it be caused by supplied from different FAST maker?
Or due to global increase in material & logistics cost?
Or the difference in markups by the vendors?
Or actually was there even a markup, as a US Forces one cost USD$1690 or RM 7k?
Yes, different prices are likely due to numbers ordered. Unlikely, we got it from the US manufacturer if its cheaper than buying from them via FMS. Ones from you know where...
Is the entire army going FAST?
Small batches really replacing ones bought some 10-15 years ago. Some of which were found to be defective
Nowadays its very typical for the losing bidder to cry unfairness & corruption when they lost as it is with the new sitting Govt political methodology of slapping the corruption tag onto anything they don't like, whether be true or not.
Unfortunately, there is some truth about the shenanigans with one of the companies.
Which is why its interesting there was a RM 500 markup per FAST going from KDI to PSE. Sometimes it might be reasonable but for this case I guess you could have known something and cannot share here... Maybe you could share here the media outlet that had carried this MACC story or something? Or was it something posted on Twitter or FB?
No, it wasn't reported on any media, it was posted on the retired Mejar General twitter feed https://mobile.twitter.com/MasraniBin/status/1611398897829842946
From the looks of it, this helmet has no side protection (ear area) whatsoever. So much (or less) for the ability to wear comm headsets.
They have detachable side protection