Despite its higher offer, Deloitte Consulting was selected to advise on the partial privatisation process of Ethio telecom, the nation's over-a-century-old telecom monopoly, scoring the highest aggregate points on the government's evaluation.

Deloitte and Ernst & Young (EY), the two global advisory, tax and transaction services providers, have been in a nip and tuck race for the contract. Deloitte was selected after grabbing the highest point value, which amounted to just 0.011 points higher than EY.

EY offered the lowest price of 3.72 million dollars for the project, and Deloitte, the second-lowest bidder, placed a bid for 3.78 million dollars for the service. Technically, Deloitte sat in the leading position with a score of 77.31, followed by EY, which grabbed 76.91 points. However, the aggregate weighted result placed Deloitte on top, scraping ahead of EY with 81.539 points, while EY got 81.528 points.

Even though Deloitte offered a price that is 58,000 dollars higher than EY, it earned the highest weighted point score since the weight on technical evaluation covered 80pc of the total evaluation.

Deloitte received a notice of intention to award on July 10, 2020, and will receive a formal awarding letter after 10 working days of the standstill period if no grievance is filed on the process, according to a source close to the case.

Ameha Bekele, consulting leader of Deloitte East Africa and Ethiopia Desk Leader, declined to comment on the issue.

If hired, Deloitte will undertake legal due diligence, including taxes, contracts and liabilities; recommend a feasible mode of privatisation of the company; and review the initial asset valuation. It will also work with the Public Enterprises Holding & Administration Agency on the preparation of bid documents for the partial privatisation and identify bidder selection criteria. The consultant will be hired for an estimated 14 months.

Before breaking ties with HST Consulting Plc in 2017, Deloitte Leadership had a presence in Ethiopia under the registered name Deloitte Consulting Plc since 2012. During the period, Deloitte designed a management strategy for the Bank of Abyssinia and Hibret Bank. It also researched the e-government project of what was then called the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology among other projects.