February 7 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's Commission for Protection of Competition said on Friday that it has launched proceedings regarding a complaint concerning local BDZ Passengers' tender for purchase of new locomotives, effectively suspending the procedure until further notice.
The complaint was filed on February 3 by a tie-up between Sofia-based Siemens Mobility and Siemens Mobility Austria, the competition regulator said in a notice.
Both companies are part of German giant Siemens Mobility.
The complaint concerns BDZ Passengers' pre-selection decision, taken on January 23.
According to data from BDZ Passengers, the procedure attracted offers from three other candidates besides the Siemens units - Bombardier Transportation, Stadler Rail Valencia, and an Exelor Holding Group-led tie-up. Out of the four candidates, only the Exelor Holding Group-led tie-up was disqualified.
The tender for the contract, which envisages supply of 10 electric locomotives for an estimated 57.5 million levs ($32.2 million/29.4 million euro), was launched in November 2019.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)