KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — The government is still considering bids to manage its fleet of vehicles and will prioritise Proton as the official car for federal ministers and senior officials, Tan Sri Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir said today.

The secretary-general of the Treasury also stressed that the contract was opened for tender, after the government decided that the job should be given out transparently.

Ahmad said eight firms submitted their bids for the contract and a multi-agency evaluation committee has examined these for their commercial and technical merits.

"Pursuant to this, the decision of the tender evaluation committee was presented in a Cabinet meeting for consideration and approval.

"Negotiations with the bidders are ongoing to finalise the concession to manage the government fleet and priority will be given to Proton cars for the use of ministers and deputy ministers, and not Toyota Vellfire as purported,” he said in a statement.

In August last year, it was reported that the seven firms were vying to manage the government’s official fleet as the previous concessionaire Spanco Sdn Bhd’s contract would expire at the end of 2019.

One report asserted that bids were required to include 32 Toyota Vellfire multi-purpose vehicles for ministers and senior officials.

Responding to the resulting controversy, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng clarified that the Cabinet later decided to continue the practice of using first national carmaker Proton as the official vehicle for ministers.