Complaint regarding tender for SBB project in Ticino approved
Published: Friday, Apr 26th 2024, 12:50
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The Federal Administrative Court has upheld an appeal by a consortium against a tender for work on the infrastructure of the new SBB plant in Arbedo-Castione. According to information from SBB, the decision has no impact on the construction schedule.
The tender, published on March 29, 2023, focuses on infrastructure work connecting the new SBB plant in Arbedo-Castione with the existing railroad network, according to the ruling of the Federal Administrative Court published on Friday. Several bids were received for the contract to be awarded. The contract was awarded to a competitor of the consortium lodging the complaint.
Before the Federal Supreme Court, it argued that the awarding of the work had not been carried out correctly. During the tendering process, the client had given one of the construction companies involved the opportunity to adjust both the technical part and the price of its offer.
Low price was the decisive factor
This company was awarded the contract in November 2023. The reason given by the awarding authority was that this provider's offer was the most favorable.
Clarifications made during the tendering process should not lead to tenders being changed or gaps being closed, the court writes in its ruling. In accordance with the Federal Act on Public Procurement (BöB), the offer of the bidder in question should have been excluded from the tender.
The Federal Administrative Court overturned SBB's decision to award the contract and awarded the contract to the consortium, as it came second in the ranking.
The judgment is not yet final and can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. (Judgment B-6847/2023 of 15.4.2024)
SBB review decision
SBB has taken note of the Federal Administrative Court's decision and is reviewing it, a media spokeswoman explained on Friday in response to an inquiry from the Keystone-SDA news agency. The decision has no impact on the timetable for the construction of the plant.
In January, SBB announced that the start of construction in Arbedo-Castione would be delayed by six months. This means that the plant will not be able to commence operations until the end of 2027 instead of 2026 as originally planned. SBB originally estimated the cost of building the plant at CHF 580 million.
©Keystone/SDA
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