ÚOHS canceled DPP's contract for geotechnical supervision during the construction of metro line D

Brno/Praha - The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) annulled the competition of the Prague Public Transit Company for comprehensive geotechnical monitoring during the construction of Metro Line D in the section from Pankrác to Olbrachtova station. The Seznam Zprávy server pointed this out, and the office's spokesperson Martin Švanda confirmed it to ČTK. The decision is not final, and an appeal can be filed against it. The Public Transit Company (DPP) is analyzing the decision, which is being assessed by hired lawyers. According to DPP Communication Department head Daniel Šabík, it does not affect the construction of Metro Line D.

The reason for the cancellation of the contract was the specification of a specific brand of product in the tender conditions. "The contracting authority set the technical conditions through direct references to the use of TerraSAR-X radar images, without justification in relation to the subject of the public contract, and without the setting of technical conditions being sufficiently precise or understandable without the reference to these specific radar images," Švanda told the website.

According to the office's decision, which ČTK has access to, the company had previously stated that the specification in the tender documentation was included because another system would not meet the required conditions, and therefore the designer specified this system directly. "According to the contracting authority, the data provider for this system offers images at list prices in standardized formats, and all participants had equal opportunity to submit bidding prices," the decision states.

The estimated price of the contract was approximately 890 million CZK. The office made its decision this week, while the deadline for filing an appeal is still ongoing.

"We have received the decision from the ÚOHS and are currently analyzing it. An external law firm that prepared this public contract legally and procedurally for DPP and bears full responsibility for its formal correctness and compliance with Czech legislation is also examining the decision," Šabík stated. "At this moment, we will not speculate on what further steps we will take in this matter, but we are prepared to announce the public contract again," he added.

According to Šabík, the decision currently has no impact on the construction permitting process for the Metro construction in the Pankrác D - Nové Dvory section. "We anticipate that we could obtain a non-final construction permit by the turn of December and January, and a final one in the spring or early summer of next year," he said.

The contract for the construction of Metro Line D has faced difficulties. In July this year, the antimonopoly office prohibited the public transit company from concluding a contract with the selected supplier and is conducting first-instance proceedings regarding the contract.

The contract for the construction of the first section of Metro Line D from Pankrác to Olbrachtova was announced by the Prague Public Transit Company, and its value exceeds ten billion CZK. Interested parties could submit bids until the end of April, but the public transit company extended the deadline due to the declaration of a state of emergency. Construction was originally estimated to begin in the last quarter of this year and is expected to last 7.5 years.

The new metro line will connect Písnice and náměstí Míru. In the first phase, a route will be created between Pankrác, Nové Dvory, and Depo Písnice stations, with driverless trains operating on it. Costs are estimated at 57 billion CZK.