Čunek can sign the contract for the designer of the new hospital

Zlín/Brno – The outgoing governor of the Zlín Region Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL) may sign the public contract for the designer of the new regional hospital in Zlín. The chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) Petr Rafaj dismissed the appeal that challenged the selection process for the designer. Martin Švanda, a spokesman for the office, said this to ČTK today. The antimonopoly office previously ruled that the competition is valid. Čunek told ČTK that he would hand the matter over to lawyers and wait for their legal opinion. Representatives of the new regional coalition urged him today not to sign the project.

"I am of course very pleased, even excited that it has been shown that the region is conducting competitions properly," Čunek told ČTK.

The regional council chose the association "New Hospital - Zlín" as the winner of the contract, for which two companies applied, at a bid price of 351 million crowns excluding VAT. However, the company JIKA-CZ from Hradec Králové filed an objection against the conditions in the tendering procedure. When ÚOHS ruled that the competition for the designer is valid, the company filed an appeal against this decision at the turn of July and August.

"The chairman of the Office for the Protection of Competition yesterday (on Wednesday) rejected the appeal of the applicant JIKA - CZ s. r. o. against the first-instance decision of ÚOHS, which dismissed the complaint against the procedure of the Zlín Region in the tendering procedure for the New Regional Hospital in Zlín - project documentation" Švanda noted today in response to ČTK's inquiry.

According to him, Rafaj confirmed the correctness and legality of the first-instance decision, in which ÚOHS found no merit in any of the objections. "Among other things, the office found no evidence of the alleged preferential treatment of the author of the study, nor any faults in setting the deadlines for submitting offers, in establishing the requirement for a medical project manager, the requirement for reference contracts or design work, and EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment)," Švanda stated.

The ÚOHS does not consider the establishment of the bid price discriminatory or non-transparent. "The office did not find any partial ambiguity in the subject of the public contract and also found no faults in the requirements for technical qualification and the duration of the submission deadline set by the contracting authority," Švanda added.

Representatives of the emerging new regional coalition of ANO, Pirates, ODS, and ČSSD again urged Čunek today not to sign the hospital construction project.

"We have repeatedly urged Senator Čunek not to take any further steps in this matter and to fully respect the election results. Now it is solely his personal responsibility to the region. Any costs he imposes on the region can currently be invested far better in the fight against the pandemic," stated regional election leader of ANO Radim Holiš, who is expected to be the new governor.

The regional assembly again approved the construction of the hospital by a narrow majority in May, the first approval was last December. According to Čunek, it should cost eight billion crowns. This week, the Supreme Administrative Court rejected the cassation complaint of several individuals who were unable to speak at the December 16 meeting of the regional assembly on the item regarding the new hospital. The item only made it onto the agenda subsequently, so people did not know in advance that there would be another vote on the new hospital. According to the Supreme Administrative Court, such a procedure was permitted by the rules of procedure and regional law. Examining the motivation for the additional inclusion of the item is not within the competence of the judiciary.

"The assessment of the alleged 'clandestineness,' 'indecency,' and 'dishonor' therefore does not belong to the courts, but exclusively to the citizens to whom the assembly is politically accountable," the court's ruling states. Among the authors of the cassation complaint was, for example, former Zlín governor Libor Lukáš (previously ODS, now Trikolóra).

Opponents of the project point to ambiguities in financing, claiming that the hospital could ultimately cost much more. They are unhappy that the same comprehensive study as for the new hospital was not commissioned by the region to verify the cost-effectiveness of the originally planned reconstruction and completion of the existing Zlín hospital complex. According to Čunek, it is more advantageous to build a new hospital than to reconstruct and complete the existing complex.