Skoda Transportation complaint halts Bulgarian electric trains tender

The procurement procedure, part of a series of three tenders worth some 2.7 billion levs in total launched by the transport ministry for the purchase of electric rolling stock, was frozen on Tuesday, according to information published on the public procurement register's website.

In a separate notice published on Monday, the Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) said it has opened proceedings in response to a complaint lodged in late September by Skoda Transportation against the tender.

The regulator did not specify the nature of the complaint. The CPC enquiry effectively suspends the procurement procedure until a decision is reached.

The two remaining procedures, along with a 68.4-million-levs tender for the purchase and long-term maintenance of 18 electric locomotives, remain open until the end of October, the public procurement register shows.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)