The European participants in the locomotives tender for the light rail are planning to sue NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., after NTA declared Chinese company CNR the winner in the tender, sources inform "Globes."
The European companies assert that the tender requirements were lowered to suit the Chinese company, and that NTA's management of the tender procedure had been faulty.
The tender is for the supply of 120 locomotives, the value of which is estimated at €1.8 million each, making a total of €216 million (NIS 1 billion). The tender, published in June 2014, is considered one of the largest in the light rail project.
The envelopes were opened last January, and NTA was about to declare CNR the winner. It is believed that CNR's bid was NIS 300 million lower than the two European competitors in the tender, Spanish company CAF and French company Alstom.
Ministry of Finance Account General Michal Abadi-Boiangiu, however, requested that the announcement be postponed, and that Ronen Wolfman, its former deputy director general, and Yitzhak Ezer, CPA, be appointed to investigate whether the tender had indeed been conducted fairly.
Meanwhile, Government Companies Authority director Ori Yogev decided to appoint Ilan Segev, CPA, to investigate the tender's propriety.
The reports issued by Abadi-Boiangiu and Yogev were not published, and although they have not yet submitted their conclusions, the Ministry of Transport has become tired of waiting.
As reported exclusively in "Globes" last Thursday, "Ministry of Transport director general Uzi Itzhaki sent a letter to NTA Yehuda Bar-On demanding that he proceed with the main procedure as planned, and in effect declare CNR the winning company.
Sources inform "Globes" that the two other bidders in the tender plan to sue NTA, alleging that the tender was biased in favor of the Chinese company. Among the demands the European companies say were lowered is the experience required of the companies in railway manufacturing (30 railway cars in recent years), and their maintenance (50 railway cars in 10 years, not all in the same fleet).
The companies also complained that the tender procedure was conducted improperly. They said that it is unacceptable that the envelopes containing the money bids were opened 10 months ago, while NTA is announcing the winner only now. They also allege that the announcement of the tender winner on Thursday evening, when the European companies' offices are closed on Sunday, was also unreasonable.
NTA asserts that CNR has been successful in over 80 countries, and only recently won a tender to supply railway cars in Boston. They also state that for months, NTA has been subject to enormous pressure to cancel its decision to separate the tenders for manufacturing the railway cars, building the electrical systems, and operating the light rail.
"These illegitimate pressures are being exerted by business concerns that openly state that it is not economically worthwhile for them to compete in a split tender; they want to be the only company producing, operating, and maintaining the mass transit system - the same model that failed, forcing Israel to nationalize the project in 2010," NTA stated.
In a letter sent to Abadi-Boiangiu, Israel Railways deputy CEO Moshe Amsalem stated that there was no problem with the threshold requirements in the tender.
In response to the declaration of CNR as the winning company, Yogev today sent a sharp letter to NTA demanding a response to several questions, among them why the NTA board of directors had not conducted a thorough discussion about the locomotives tender, when the tenders committee had convened, and whether they were aware of the content of Itzhaki's letter.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 29, 2015
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