Praha must re-evaluate the offers for Nová Palmovka, ÚOHS annulled the exclusion of Porr

Prague – Prague must reassess the bids in the tender for the reconstruction of the Nová Palmovka Center into the headquarters of the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). This was definitively decided by the head of the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) Petr Mlsna, who annulled the exclusion of the company Porr from the procurement procedure. The ÚOHS informed about this in a press release. According to Prague's Deputy Mayor Petr Hlaváček (STAN), the evaluation committee will meet next week. The stance of the company is being investigated by ČTK.

The chair of the ÚOHS confirmed the decision of the first instance from June and dismissed Prague's appeal. The case was addressed at the request of Porr, which the capital city excluded from the tender. The reason for the exclusion was the alleged failure to demonstrate the qualifications of the members of the expert team. However, according to the ÚOHS's assessment, this conclusion was unfounded.

The chair of the ÚOHS focused mainly on the details of assessing the qualifications of the members of the expert team. Among other things, he noted that the contracting authority must not be stricter with the contractor than it specified in the procurement conditions merely because it has repeatedly failed to award the contract. "Until the contracting authority truly has doubts about the fulfillment of qualifications or doubts arise based on objections from another participant in the procurement procedure, a higher standard of documents than those specified in the procurement documentation cannot be required," Mlsna stated.

He added that it is up to the contracting authority why it chose such a complicated procedural approach, which ultimately only leads to further potential complications. Nevertheless, having chosen that route, it must bear its consequences. "The procurement procedure currently exhibits a whole set of shortcomings in relation to the exclusion of supplier PORR. In addition to insufficient assessment of its qualifications, there is ambiguity regarding the person whose qualifications are being demonstrated, a demand for the replacement of the person as the only means of clarifying the bid, the scope of required documents, and an unreasonably short deadline for their submission," stated the chair of the ÚOHS.

Following the ÚOHS decision, the evaluation committee will reconvene, according to Hlaváček, to reassess the bids. Its meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 23, at 3:00 PM.

The tender for the completion of the unfinished building near the Palmovka metro station was announced by the Prague magistrate in October 2023; due to a series of objections and proceedings at the ÚOHS, it has not yet managed to select a construction contractor. The last step taken by the city’s leadership at the end of February this year was to exclude the bids from the companies Porr and Gemo, leaving the company Geosan Group as the sole participant in the competition. The city council has not yet selected it as the winner, so the tender continues.

According to previous plans, EUSPA is to move to the shell of the building near the Palmovka metro, which Prague 8 unsuccessfully started building over a decade ago as its town hall supplemented by a shopping center, from its current inadequate premises in Holešovice. It was originally supposed to move this year, but the city has not yet started the work. The previous government began looking for alternative spaces due to the delays.