Appeal rejected by Strabag, accepted by Eurozox

The Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures rejected as unfounded the appeal of the Štrabag consortium against the decision of the Central Bank (CBCG) to assess the offer for the construction and equipping of the educational conference center in Tivat as incorrect.

In addition, the Commission determined that the complaint of the company "Eurozox", which is the second bidder in this tender and whose offer was judged by the CBCG to be incorrect, was founded.

The tender was announced on February 24 this year, and its total value is 8,8 million euros, of which the value of the procurement is 7,3 million, and 1,5 million is value added tax. The location for the construction of this building is in the very center of Tivat on a plot of 2.958 square meters.

"The appeal of the Štrabag consortium filed against the CBCG on the annulment of the public procurement procedure is rejected as unfounded. The appeal of the Eurozox company is accepted, so the decision of the CBCG on the annulment of the procedure is annulled and the case is returned for a new procedure and decision," the Commission's decision reads.

The Commission ordered the CBCG to eliminate the irregularities pointed out to it within 15 days from the date of receipt of the decision and to notify the Commission within three days of the elimination of the irregularity.

"CBCG undertakes to pay Eurozox the costs of the procedure in the amount of 484 euros, and the Štrabag consortium bears the costs of its appeal procedure," the Commission stated in its decision.

In the decision, it is written that Štrabag stated in the appeal, among other things, that the CBCG gave an unusual condition in the procurement of the offer, which can be considered a relatively simple project because it requires the merging of two functions into one person, i.e., that one person be both an engineer and BZnR (security occupational safety) and that he has two licenses that are not connected, and that this was defined in order to eliminate bidders who meet all other conditions. The municipality believes that Štrabag had the right to appeal in connection with the tender documentation within 20 days from the day of publication, but that he did not use it, so now, after the CBCG decision, he has no right to highlight this issue in his appeal.

"The ordering party (CBCG) properly conducted the review procedure of Štrabag's offer and based the exclusion decision on a properly established factual situation, in accordance with Article 108 of the Law on Public Procurement," the Commission states in its decision.

It is further stated that the CBCG improperly evaluated Eurozox's offer. Namely, the CBCG considered that the offer was incorrect because it found in the documentation about the designer and auditor of the main project of the educational center that it contained the decision of the auditor "Arhitectura Aurea" on the appointment Petar Popović for the responsible and leading auditor for the kitchen technology elaboration phase, and that the Eurozox statement stated that they have Popović with an authorized engineer's license to perform the activities of technical documentation and construction of facilities, and that this is a conflict of interest. Eurozox submitted a document that at the time of the audit of the main project of the educational center, Popović was employed by the firm "Architektonski studio 69".

"The customer (CBCG) is obliged to determine in the repeated procedure without doubt which engineer did the revision of the kitchen technology elaboration, as a phase of the main project, that is, to determine whether Petar Popović performed or participated in the revision of any phase of the main project", it is stated. in the decision of the Commission.

The CBCG undertakes to pay Eurozox the costs of the procedure in the amount of 484 euros, and the Štrabag consortium bears the costs of its appeal procedure, according to the Commission's decision.