Modernization of the Nové Mesto nad Váhom – Púchov railway section

Trnava (10.1.2011) – The public tender, called for modernization of the Nové Mesto nad Váhom – Púchov,km 100.500 – 159.100, Stage 3 - Zlatovce – Trenčianska Teplá section, designed to increase traffic speed to 160 km/h, still lacks the winner.

After lapse of nearly one year, ŽSR – as the contracting entity – still has not concluded the public tender by selecting the contractor for the above-specified order. Unsuccessful tenderers lodged objections against procedure followed by the contracting entity in the tender; requested correction by the Public Procurement Office (ÚVO), and filed for administrative suits, claiming a legality examination of ÚVO´s decisions. Based on the contracting entity´s evaluation of submitted bids, the Skanska association was declared the winner. One of the unsuccessful tenderers, the association Združenie pod Brezinou represented by Trnavská stavebná spoločnosť, lodged objection to the evaluation result of its bid and requested correction. After dismissal of the objection by the contracting entity ŽSR, it lodged another objection to ÚVO, requesting cancellation, by ÚVO, of the bid evaluation results due to illegality of the contracting entity’s procedure and disrespect of the evaluation and order conditions in the public tender. New facts about the TSS objections, applying to the fulfilment of qualification conditions, were notified to the ÚVO commission at the verbal hearing held on 8.12.2010, organized by ÚVO. In regard of these conditions, posed by ŽSR upon the tenderers, the existence of justified suspicion was brought forward that one of the tenderers stated false information, in his bid, about the references proving his fulfilment of technical qualification conditions, specifically of the professional capability to implement the subject-matter of order by the key project management personnel. The submission of such references represented one of the participation conditions in the tender. Non-fulfilment of this criterion would expose ŽSR to real risks of occurrence of extraordinary events in the project implementation stage (viz. the railway accident at Studénka bridge in the Czech Republic, threatening loss of life). The resolution of such situations should be naturally within the responsibilities of the relevant institution, that is, the Railway Transport Regulation Office. The competent bodies have, however, not yet considered the claimed suspicions, or the concrete means of evidence that were submitted in proof; therefore, the doubts raised within the process could be neither confirmed nor invalidated by lawful methods. Due to their substantial gravity, these new facts, as pointed out above, require their consistent verification by competent bodies, as they are capable of affecting the legality of the whole process of procurement for the object of order.

ÚVO, by decision issued on 15.12.2010, denied investigation of the submitted facts and reverted the case to ŽSR. The association Združenie pod Brezinou, represented by Trnavská stavebná spoločnosť, filed suit on 23.12.2010 against this decision, claiming examination of its legality by Bratislava Regional Court. Also, in the sense of the ÚVO decision, TSS put a request to the contracting entity for detailed verification of references of the concerned tenderer, and for corrective measures in compliance with the law. The next claim, dated 27.12.2010, also requested that ŽSR executes corrective measures; but the request was denied by the contracting entity. Furthermore, TSS, on 30.12.2010, delivered its objections to ÚVO claiming insufficient verification, by the contracting entity, of the tenderer´s fulfilment of technical qualification conditions and requesting that ÚVO cancels, for the above reason, ŽSR´s decision about the bid evaluation results in the tender.
According to TSS, to admit evaluation of the bid of the tenderer whose participation in the public tender had not been consistently evaluated from viewpoints of fulfilment of the qualification conditions laid down by the contracting entity clearly contradicted to the essential principles of public procurement, mainly to those referring to non-discrimination and fair economic contest. The interests of transparency and lawfulness of the entire public procurement process unavoidably require that the competent authorities - empowered and obliged to verify fulfilment of the participation conditions by each bidder in public tender - should verify suspicious references and take any identified flaws in account in the evaluation of bids. Since the given case involves a project co-financed with European Union funding, errors in the public procurement process may result in loss, of the Slovak Republic, of financial sources allocated for the project from EU funds and in a threat of the planned modernization of the railway network in the Slovak Republic, which in turn would jeopardize the fulfilment of the Operational Program Transport objectives.

To the date of 1 January 2011, Trnavská stavebná spoločnosť completed its two-year planned period of transformation, thereby changing the company logo and the corporate trade name from Trnavská stavebná spoločnosť, a.s., to TSS GRADE, a.s.

Mgr. Michaela Kroková
PR manager, TSS GRADE, a.s.