Decision from the Government session: Tender Commission to submit report by July 9th

The deadline by which the Tender Commission for Concessions at Montenegrin Airports is supposed to complete the entire work and submit a report to the Ministry of Transport on the scoring of the bids will be extended by one month, or until July 9th.

That deadline was tomorrow.

The Ministry of Transport should then, within 30 days, propose conclusions to the Government for adoption, or a ranking list showing the best bid in the tender.

The Government held a thematic session today, chaired by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić. On that occasion, the Government announced, they were briefed on the Oral Information on the activities carried out in the procedure for granting concessions for the right to use the Podgorica and Tivat airports.

"On this occasion, the Government unanimously accepted the proposal of the Tender Commission for the concession procedure for the right to use the Podgorica and Tivat airports to extend the deadline for the evaluation of technical offers by 30 days. In order to increase transparency and competence, the Tender Commission will, in cooperation with the IFC (World Bank), obtain additional opinions and, after receiving them, submit the final decision to the Ministry of Transport so that it can be forwarded to the Government for decision," the statement reads.

Due to the drastic difference in the scoring by which the Tender Commission for Concessions to Montenegrin Airports and its consultant from the World Bank assessed the technical part of the two submitted bids, urgent meetings of the leaders of the ruling majority and the Government were scheduled for today, and the meeting of the thirteen-member body scheduled for this morning, which was supposed to verify the elimination of one of the bidders and open the financial bid of the other, was canceled.

A dramatic twist in the seven-year-long process that lasted several days was marked yesterday by a warning from the consultant, the International Finance Institution (IFC), that it would abandon its role because the tender committee did not provide them with information on the basis for the factual disqualification of the bid of the South Korean company "Incheon International Airport Corporation".

Also, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and his Vice Prime Minister and head of the tender commission, Nik Đeljošaj, publicly opposed each other on social media, accusing the IFC expert of working for a South Korean bidder.