Prague Public Transit Company, DPP has filed a criminal complaint for blackmailing of tender evaluation committee. DPP press release says the ' The unknown perpetrator, using a fictitious name, tried to use coercion and threats to negotiate an advantage in favor of the association led by the company PORR in the evaluation of submitted bids.'.

DPP had awarded the contract for the tunnelling and construction of the second part of the new Prague Metro D ,the "Blue Line", to the consortium lead by Subterra. You may read my original post on this at link Czech Republic: Prague awards contract for second section of Metro D, excludes consortium lead by PORR from the procurement process.

Subterra is also the leader of the consortium building the first Metro D section,I.D1a, Pankrác D-Olbrachtova. That consortium called "Association Metro I.D ' by Subterra, HOCHTIEF CZ, STRABAG, HOCHTIEF Infrastructure and Ed. Züblin.

Result was very remarkable with exclusion of the PORR-lead consortium from the tender process for not compliance with tender requirements. Another contender, the Strabag group was eliminated for too high price. 

Like the last time, I have translated the press release of DPP to best of my skills. Also this prelude is my understanding of DPP press release. I might have translated and or understood with mistake. Therefore I strongly recommend you to look into the original DPP release in Czech at the bottom.

My translation of DPP press release is this

The DPP filed a criminal complaint for blackmailing members of the evaluation committee in the tender for the second section of metro D

13/09/2023

Prague, September 13, 2023 – Transport company hl. City of Prague (DPP) filed a criminal complaint with the High State Prosecutor's Office in connection with an attempt to extort members of the evaluation commission in a public contract for the construction contractor of the second section of metro D from Olbrachtova station to Nové Dvory. The unknown perpetrator, using a fictitious name, tried to use coercion and threats to negotiate an advantage in favor of the association led by the company PORR in the evaluation of submitted bids. The DPP strongly believes that the law enforcement authorities will thoroughly investigate this case and bring the perpetrators to light.

In the procurement procedure for the construction contractor of the second section of metro D, three entities submitted bids. The winner of the public contract was the association led by Subterra. At the same time, the association led by PORR was excluded from the tendering process on the grounds that its offer contained fundamental deficiencies which the DPP could not accept from the point of view of the Public Procurement Act and with the care of a proper manager. The five-member board of directors unanimously decided on the winner and the exclusion based on the unanimous recommendation of the eleven-member evaluation committee.

However, the selection of the winner of the procurement procedure was preceded by the actions of an unknown perpetrator reminiscent of the practices of the nineties. Before the final meeting, some members of the evaluation committee received threatening e-mails from the same address under the same fictitious name, the aim of which was to influence the outcome of the procurement procedure in favor of the excluded bidder. In e-mails, their creator threatened, among other things, the members of the evaluation committee that if they vote to exclude the PORR association, they will commit a crime of gigantic proportions, end up in prison and pay any damages.

"We expected construction companies to fight a big battle for this contract. Instead of a fair competition taking place, pressure is exerted on the members of the DPP board of directors, the DPP supervisory board or the councilors of the HMP, and even an unknown entity does not hesitate to threaten the members of the evaluation committee themselves. Such practices are absolutely unacceptable for us and we consider them an attempt to influence a public contract," says Petr Witowski, chairman of the board and general director of the DPP, adding: "That is why the DPP filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator with the High Prosecutor's Office in this matter. We firmly believe that the law enforcement authorities will thoroughly investigate the case and will succeed in uncovering the perpetrators."

"We were completely shocked when we learned how DPP employees are threatened and under what pressure they must have been under. This is simply unparalleled. The construction sector is aggressive in itself when it comes to obtaining contracts, but this kind of intimidation is completely unacceptable," says Roman Slanina, vice-chairman of the DPP supervisory board and chairman of the basic trade union Dopravní podnik Elektricé dráhy, adding: "Unions stand and will always stand behind DPP employees . Especially since, despite their intimidation, they made a decision that was not influenced by threats."

The DPP always proceeds strictly in accordance with the Public Procurement Act and in accordance with the duty of care of a proper householder. It was the same in this case, and the DPP firmly stands by its decision to exclude the association led by PORR from the tendering process. "In connection with this contract, we also have information from the market about a planned negative media campaign against the DPP and some selected persons, however, I believe that it will not be confirmed in the end. Otherwise, we will fight against them through legal means," concludes Petr Witowski.

Original in Czech:

https://www.dpp.cz/spolecnost/pro-media/tiskove-zpravy/detail/278_2306-dpp-vybral-zhotovitele-stavby-druheho-useku-metra-d-olbrachtova-nove-dvory

Metro lines drawing is from DPP.