This picture – according to which even where the project approved a single supplier did not prevent the procurement from acting to check the existence of other alternatives, including holding bidding and approaching suppliers with requests for price proposals, also emerges from additional testimonies.
Thus, Kenitürk, the procurement man, testified that he always goes out to the BLM and asks for quotes from suppliers, even when the project's position is that of a single supplier, in order to know where he is in terms of prices (p. 502, paras. 6-15). "There were cases where we received a single supplier, many cases, and we are still checking because this is our job [in procurement]. Our job is to check that we are getting a fair deal, to locate more inventory, to locate more things" (p. 419, paras. 17-19). Knitork explained that he issues a budget and asks for quotes from various suppliers, in order to check the existence of other alternatives, and thus he may get a better price. As he testified, "This is what I am here for", this is the role of procurement (p. 418, paras. 10-27). If a relevant proposal is received from another supplier, the procurement person will be able to bring the matter before the project personnel and the matter will be examined (p. 346, paras. 1-17). Similar things arose from the testimonies of other procurement people: Shkedi, who was in charge of Kinturk (p. 1864, paras. 8-17, a single supplier form can be used and may not be used and a competition is made; p. 1860, paras. 11-17, even when there is a single supplier form, the buyer is allowed to compete in order to bring a better offer and no approvals are required for this purpose; p. 1838, Q2-1, the procurement is expected to be professional and not to accept any engagement with a single supplier without examination and consideration); Sheknevsky, Purchase Purchase in Maman (p. 938, paras. 6-10, even in the case of a single supplier, it is certainly possible to compete);Leshem, Maman Procurement Manager (p. 2181, s. 25 - p. 2182, s. 3, even when there is a single supplier form, the procurement person has the right to conduct a competition and ask for quotes from a number of suppliers; this is despite his words at p. 2139, paras. 28-30). Shahar himself confirmed in his testimony that it was the project that defined a single supplier and the procurement people did not like it, did not like to be a "rubber stamp", and sometimes even when a single supplier was approved by the project, the procurement person asked for quotes from other suppliers in order to see that he was "not screwed" and to examine the price (p. 2741, s. 20 - p. 2743, s. 6, while confirming what he said in his interrogation, P/557(8), S. 949-950). I also paid attention to the testimony of Zaguri, who at the relevant time was the head of the procurement administration at Elta. In his testimony, Zagori emphasized the distinction between the process of approving a single supplier by the project and a separate process dealing with the question of exemption from a tender (p. 2227, paras. 19-26). At a certain point in his testimony he said that a single supplier approval form by the project "means that there is no competition" (p. 2227, paras. 8-15, with reference to N/11 in our case). However, an examination of Zaguri's testimony in its entirety shows that it does not change the picture that clearly emerged from the totality of the testimonies, according to which the buyer, the procurement man, was entitled to examine other possibilities and request price quotes, even when the project approved a single supplier form (see, p. 2198, paras. 24-25, where he explicitly stated that "a request for a price quote can also be made on a single supplier"); See also p. 2215, paras. 16-30, p. 2226, paras. 16-21, where he referred to the open option for the buyer to contact the head of the procurement manager with a request to deviate from the approval of a single supplier of the project; Proceeding with the BLAM to examine alternatives to a single supplier is consistent with the possibility of requesting afterwards, in accordance with what turns out, to deviate from the approval of a single supplier, and Zaguri's testimony did not emerge otherwise).
- Interim summary: The evidence shows a clear picture – there was tension between the project and the procurement, and even when the project approved a single supplier, this did not prevent the procurement from acting to check the existence of other alternatives, including holding pricing and approaching suppliers with requests for quotations, also in order to ensure procurement at the optimal price. In practice, procurement people have done this more than once. A request for price quotes for the purpose of examining the market and examining alternatives, even when it comes to "shooting in the dark" and even if there is doubt that an alternative will be found, is not a prima facie pricing and is intended to receive genuine offers.
In any event, even if the issuance of a single supplier form by the project where the project approved a single supplier form would have been contrary to the civil appeal procedures – and we saw above that this is not the case – this would not have justified or legitimized the coordination of bids in the procurement company.