Energy, Legislation, Lithuania, Technology

Ernesta Dapkiene, spokeswoman for Lietuvos Energija, told BNS that the decision to terminate the tender had been made in early August, with a green light from the Public Procurement Service, adding that it had been halted last week after the claim deadline.

The tender was called off after the National Commission for Energy Control and Prices in May did not approve Lietuvos Energija's investment in modernization of IT systems.

InnoForce CEO Mindaugas Mince told BNS the company intended to go to court.

"We were the smaller partner in the consortium. The Czech Republic's NESS Czech is a leading provider of IT services in Central Europe, the company had already started searching for accommodation in Vilnius and contracted specialists who would come here for the project," Mince said.

Until last October, InnoForce was headed by Germanas Rudekas who owned the already bankrupt company ERP with his business partner Markas Zbarskis – the Constitutional Court last November found the ERP bankruptcy as intentional.

Other participants in the tender included a consortium of Tieto Lietuva and Tieto Latvia, as well as a consortium of Atea, Ingenious IT, Asseco Lietuva, Asseco Poland and Asseco Central Europe.

Lietuvos Energija's group uses more than 70 IT systems, which are used for an average of over 15 years. A third of the systems have no support or service for some time already.