Interesting development. DPP ('Prague Public Transit Company' or ' Dopravní podnik hl. m. Prahy' in Czech language) has decided to cancel the tender result for the construction of the Metro D's second section. Decision has been taken when there were issues with the verification of one of the references given by the winning bidder. As it looks, DPP will not start a new tender process, but will reevaluate the bids.

The tender process of the second section has been quite eventful. One of the losing bidders, PORR, had, on September 8, 2022, filed a petition regarding the procurement procedure with the Office for the Protection of Economic Competition (ÚOHS), but it was rejected on November 23, 2022. PORR did not file another appeal against the decision. At the time, DPP has strongly rejected the non-transparency claims and also rejected that the construction of the Metro D was in doubt because European Investment Bank could cancel the funds.

here: DPP rejects the non-transparency claims for Metro D tender and that the financing of Metro D from the European Investment Bank is at risk

Afterwards, DPP has filed a criminal complaint for blackmailing of tender evaluation committee. DPP press release said 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.'.

here: DPP filed a criminal complaint for blackmailing members of the evaluation committee in the tender for the second section of metro D. DPP names the consortium-lead allegedly the blackmailers tried to get benefits for

This latest press release (translated from original) from DPP should be read with the previous information.

DPP will re-evaluate the winning bid for the contractor of the second section of metro D

13/03/2024

Prague, March 13, 2024 – Transport company hl. City of Prague (DPP) has currently received new information in connection with the verification of the details of one of the references of the winning bidder for the construction of the second section of metro D. The Board of Directors of the DPP therefore decided today to cancel the selection of the winner. The evaluation committee will reassess the winning bid taking this information into account. The current decision does not change the fact that the DPP continues to insist on the exclusion of the PORR, VINCI and Marti (PVM) association from the competition for failure to meet the conditions of the tender documentation.

Last September, the DPP evaluation committee unanimously recommended the winner of the tender for the construction of the second section of metro D, which was subsequently unanimously confirmed by the company's board of directors. "When selecting the winner, the DPP proceeded strictly in accordance with the Public Procurement Act, with the care of a good steward and based on the information in the submitted bids, which the DPP checked even beyond the scope of legal obligations," says Petr Witowski, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the DPP, and continues: "Currently, in connection with the proceedings before the ÚOHS, we started to further verify the challenged references by the complainant, despite the fact that we had them confirmed as part of the evaluation of offers. As part of this verification, we have reached the point where no entity that the winner gives us in the references is able to unequivocally confirm such an unprecedented detail of the reference that the complainant is challenging."

In the light of these new facts, which no one could have known or foreseen at the time of the first evaluation of the bids, the DPP Board of Directors today canceled the decision on the selection of the contractor for the second section of metro D. The evaluation committee will therefore reassess the winning bid taking into account the newly acquired information. "It is crucial for us that this contract is tendered completely transparently and with the care of a proper manager," says Petr Witowski and emphasizes: "However, the current decision does not change the fact that the DPP still stands by the exclusion of the PVM association for not meeting the conditions of the procurement procedure."

https://www.dpp.cz/spolecnost/pro-media/tiskove-zpravy/detail/278_2537-dpp-znovu-vyhodnoti-viteznou-nabidku-na-zhotovitele-druheho-useku-metra-d