The Premier's consultant Rolfe Commissiong has defended a controversial deal which saw a Progressive Labour Party-connected builder snare a multi-million dollar Government contract awarded to him by his business partners.

The Royal Gazette revealed this week how Dennis Correia, of Correia Construction, has 30 percent of the shares of Bermuda Emissions Control (BEC) which picked Correia Construction to build three emissions testing centres. That contract was not put out to open tender.

Correia Construction will pick up the bulk of the $8.6 million contract in a deal approved by The Transport Control Department and by the other two BEC business partners ¿ Donal Smith who owns 40 percent of the company and Joel Madeiros who owns 30 percent.

Mr Commissiong said: "I am disappointed that when the Premier and the Government are working so hard to improve race relations that the UBP can express their raw oppossition to a Portuguese man and a black partner."

Asked if the deal, which has been branded highly unusual, was a race issue he said: "It's more the nuances. The UBP has a track record of insensitivity to the economic empowerment of black Bermudians and to some degree Portuguese Bermudians.

"They give lip service to empowerment but everytime a black or Portuguese gets a legitimate contract they are up in arms over it."

He said the PLP was not, despite the accusations, a black party but was there to help those disadvantaged politically or economically. Asked if he wanted more deals to be structured like the BEC deal he said Mr. Correia and Mr. Smith had done a good job in defending their position.

And he added: "Equal opportunity is something that in and of itself will not correct the disparities which exist with race and/or ethnicity ¿ I speak of those elements within the black and Portugeuse communities who have been disadvantaged."

To correct this disadvantage he said Government and other agencies could not afford to do things in a way that protects the status quo. But he said checks and balances needed to be there to ensure taxpayers didn't lose out. "I believe Government has been judicious in accommodating that idea."

Asked why the tender hadn't been opened to more bidders in the black and Portuguese community rather than just two specific individuals Mr. Commissiong said he didn't want to get into the details.

Mr. Correia is a friend of Premier and Transport Minister Ewart Brown and his wife is running for the Progressive Labour Party at the next election. Opposition deputy leader Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said if everyone had been given the opportunity to bid there could have been no perception of favouritism.

"The UBP has no difficulty in empowering people ¿ either black, Portugeuse or white."

It could very well be that BEC and Correia were the best people for the job, said Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin, but because of the sole source tender the public would never know.

"But it is closed off and the Permanent Secretary says the reason why was that the building was so specialised and then the contractor said it was a very simple building. We don't have any difficulty in giving favourable consideration to those who may have previously been disadvantaged in the bidding for contracts. We put forward the idea of the ecomomic empowerment zone.

"But we have an issue when it looks like jobs for the boys. This is what it would seem to be.

"Let's put the large contracts out to tender. This is a six million dollar contract."

She said sweatheart deals were becoming a theme under the PLP. "This isn't the first one - we saw the Coco Reef deal. We are not talking about this establishing a precedent. We are talking about it becoming policy."

PLP-linked contractors had been picked for Berkeley and the school was three years late and $60 million over budget, said Mrs Gordon-Pamplin.

Bermuda Emissions Control was formed by Donal Smith and Joel Maderios in 1996 and Mr. Correia bought into the firm in 2003. Work began in January for the satellite testing stations in Rockaway and Southside and in the middle of last month for the main site at the Transport Control Department's North Street HQ.

Correia Construction is putting up the buildings, BEC is providing the equipment and TCD will handle the outfitting of the offices, said Mr. Correia, who estimated the satellites would cost around $500,000 while North Street will cost around $3.5 million.