Good for Business, Latvia, Railways, Transport

According to the Procurement Monitoring Bureau's decision, Talgo's complaint about the results of the negotiated procedure conducted by Pasazieru Vilciens is unfounded and therefore there is no reason to overturn Pasazieru Vilciens' decision on the procurement results. The bureau has therefore allowed authorized Pasazieru Vilciens to enter into a procurement contract with the winning bidder, Skoda.

As reported, taking into account the Procurement Monitoring Bureau's decision, Pasazieru Vilciens at the end of May revised bids submitted by prospective electric train suppliers, and selected Skoda's offer as the winning bid.

Four companies offered to supply 32 new electric trains for Pasazieru Vilciens - Talgo, Polish subsidiary of the Swiss company Stadler, Spain's Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), and Skoda.

Pasazieru Vilciens initially picked Talgo's bid, which offered to provide the new trains for EUR 225.303 mln. However, after Skoda Vagonka and CAF filed protests against the negotiations procedure, the Procurement Monitoring Bureau banned Pasazieru Vilciens to sign contract with Talgo. After a repeat review of the bids, Pasazieru Vilciens decided to sign contract with Skoda, which was asking EUR 241.888 mln for the new trains.

Pasazieru Vilciens initially picked Talgo's bid, which offered to provide the new trains for EUR 225.303 mln. However, after Skoda Vagonka and CAF filed protests against the negotiations procedure, the Procurement Monitoring Bureau banned Pasazieru Vilciens to sign contract with Talgo. After a repeat review of the bids, Pasazieru Vilciens decided to sign contract with Skoda, which was asking EUR 241.888 mln for the new trains.

Pasazieru Vilciens reported that the tender’s original winner, Spanish company Talgo, had offered to supply the trains for a lower price but that the maintenance costs offered by Skoda for the trains’ 35-year lifecycle were lower, which meant lower overall costs.

After reviewing a complaint filed by Talgo, the Procurement Monitoring Bureau in March 2019 banned Pasazieru Vilciens from concluding a train supply contract with Skoda and ordered Pasazieru Vilciens to reassess all bids.