July 22 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's competition authority said that the construction of a gas interconnection with Serbia cannot proceed before complaints against the selection of local company Canpipe BG as contractor in the project are settled.
The project does not meet the criteria of urgency that would justify the awarding of the public procurement contract to the selected candidate before the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has issued its final ruling on the complaints, the anti-trust body said in a statement last week.
The complaints that have blocked the project were submitted by candidates which were excluded from running in the 143.6 million levs ($86.7 million/73.4 million euro) tender for the supply of equipment and the construction of the Bulgarian section of the gas interconnector with Serbia, called by Bulgarian gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz, or were ranked lower than the selected winner.
The complainants include three consortia and the Bulgarian branch of Italy's Bonatti.
Last month, Bulgartransgaz said it ranked first a 136.8 million levs offer by Canpipe BG, a company established by local subsidiaries of Canada-based Canpipe Industries International Inc., to supply equipment and build the Bulgarian section of the gas interconnection with Serbia.
Canpipe BG, a tie-up of Canpipe Industries International Inc. - Bulgaria Branch and Canpipe Industries International Bulgaria EAD, received an overall score of 97.79 points in the public procurement tender.The ranking was carried out on the basis of quality-to-price ratio. Offers by four other participants were ranked lower, with scores of between 90.00 and 69.03 points.
Bulgartransgaz said earlier this year that its public procurement tender attracted 11 offers. Bids were submitted by nine consortia and the Bulgarian branches of Italy-registered companies Arkad and Bonatti.
Earlier this year, Vladimir Malinov, the CEO of Bulgartransgaz, said that Bulgaria expects to start the construction of its 62-kilometre long section of the gas link with Serbia in May and complete it by May 2023.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)