Morsko dobro is again seeking bids for ferry repairs

The Public Company for Coastal Zone Management, or rather their Maritime and Coastal Transport Sector, which manages the ferry line in Boka, has announced repeated tenders for the overhaul of three ferries from their fleet - the ships "Teodo", "Perast" and "Grbalj". The previous ones were canceled after the state-owned company declared the submitted bids invalid.

The current papers for "Grbalj" and "Perast" expire in mid-summer, so these ships may be excluded in the middle of the season due to repeated tenders.

The overhaul of the "Teoda" is estimated to cost 140.000 euros excluding VAT. It is expected to last 25 days, and bids are due by June 16. This ship has a certificate of technical soundness and seaworthiness, issued by the Technical Inspectorate of the Maritime Safety Administration, which is valid until the end of September, which means that it could be operational by then even if this tender fails.

The situation is different with the second largest ferry in terms of capacity, the "Grbalj", whose papers expire in mid-summer, which is why it is necessary for the new tender for its overhaul to succeed so that the ship is not withdrawn from traffic in the midst of the biggest summer crowds. The more complex overhaul of the ferry "Grbalj" is estimated to cost 360.000 euros excluding VAT, is scheduled to last 25 days, and offers from interested shipyards are being accepted until June 30.

Bids are being accepted until June 12th for the overhaul of the small ferry "Perast", with an estimated value of 70.000 euros excluding VAT. Its overhaul would take 22 days.

Morsko dobro is late with the preparations of the ferry fleet for this season, because the planned regular annual overhauls of these three ferries have already been postponed once because the tenders that were announced at the end of March officially failed in the first half of May, although all three bids received were from the shipyards "Adriatic 42" from Bijela, the shipyard "Punat" from Krk and "Lošinjske plovidbe - Brodogradilište" from Mali Lošinj, Croatia.

The Public Procurement Service of the Coastal Administration, referring to Article 140 of the Public Procurement Act, excluded all of these bidders from the public procurement procedure. This was done for reasons that are incomprehensible from the perspective of the maritime and shipbuilding profession, because they also stated as formal errors by the bidders that all three bidders did not clearly indicate the exact number of pieces of their equipment and machinery that they will use during the docking and repair of ferries, or that the legal basis (ownership or lease) on which the bidder disposes of that equipment and resources was not stated, even though all three shipyards submitted a list of all their technical means and equipment at their disposal, which are otherwise significantly above the minimum requirements required by the tender.

In addition, the Coastal Administration's expert services found that some of the bidders' bids were formally incorrect because they failed to submit diplomas and professional certificates, or evidence, in their "Declarations of the Economic Entity" accompanying the bids, that they employed specialist personnel who would perform work on the ferries - primarily welders. For this reason, the Coastal Administration declared the shipyards' bids to be incorrect, even though they listed the names of their employees who were internationally certified by some of the world's most important classification societies in shipbuilding and ship repair, such as DNV, HRB, RINA, Lloyd Register...

Because of all this, regular repairs of the Morsko dobro ferry are significantly behind schedule compared to optimal dynamics, with the continuing danger that, because of all this, the second largest ferry in their fleet, the ship "Grbalj", will be out of service for most of the upcoming peak season. Morsko dobro has recently announced a tender for the purchase of diesel fuel to power its ferry fleet, worth 1.500.000 euros including VAT.

They are purchasing phones for nine executives.

Morsko dobro has also announced a tender for the purchase of new mobile phones for the company's managers, with a total estimated value of 9.500 euros including VAT.

Namely, the state-owned company headed by director Mladen Mikijelj is willing to pay for a total of eight requested mobile phones, seven of which, as can be seen from the requested specifications, are of the "iPhone 18" type, manufactured by "Apple", while only one requested device may be from another manufacturer that operates on the Android operating system.

Bids are due by June 10th for this public procurement and delivery is 10 days from the date of signing the contract.