Turkish Bozankaya makes only bid for 25 Belgrade trams – Price of around EUR 81 million with VAT offered, EUR 3.23 million per vehicle

The controversial and, for weeks back, disputed tender of GSP Beograd for the purchase of 25 trams for the needs of the biggest public transporter is entering the final stages. After the suspensions of this public procurement procedures due to the submitted complaints and requests for the protection of rights and the subsequent reactivation of the tendering procedure, the deadline for the submission of bids has officially passed. And, in the end, several hours before the closing of the tender, in response to which bids from several renowned tram manufacturers had been expected, only one bid was sent, one that was certainly expected – by the Turkish manufacturer Bozankaya. This is confirmed by the record of the opening of the bids, which eKapija had an insight into.

Bozankaya offered a price of around EUR 67.3 million without the VAT, that is, around EUR 81 million with the VAT, for 25 trams. That is EUR 3.24 million per vehicle.

As can be seen from the record, nine months is the deadline period for the first delivery. When the disputed tender, which also contained material mistakes, was opened, it emphasized that, within the first delivery, two vehicles should be supplied. However, when it comes to the delivery of the other vehicles, it is not clear what the exact dynamics of their arrival to Belgrade will be. Let us remind that one of the complaints of certain potential bidders during the tendering procedure was that the tendering documentation envisaged that the deadline for the delivery of the first vehicles (a minimum of two) may not be longer than 18 months from the day of the signing of the agreement and that the deadline for the delivery of all the other vehicles may not be longer than 15 months, counting from the day of the reception of the written request of the bidder. Potential bidders pointed out that the standard delivery deadline, including the homologization, was 30 to 36 months – because the assumption was that every procuring entity would request vehicles with certain special characteristics, whose production would require a certain amount of time, and not those already in the producer’s stock.

When it comes to the current tender, the most surprising thing is precisely that there were no bids from famous tram manufacturers, especially considering that, during the procedure, an unusually high number of questions was asked by potential bidders, which requested clarifications of the conditions and criteria in the tender. Among the official requests for clarifications were those submitted by the Swiss Stadler and the Polish PESA. It was precisely that number of requests for clarifications, as well as the submitted complaints for the protection of rights, that suggested that there would be at least several foreign bidders.

In the end, however, there’s only Bozankaya’s bid. And that wouldn’t be strange at all if, for months back, there hadn’t been speculations among experts and in the political scene in Belgrade about the tram tender being “tailor-made” for that Turkish company.

D. Aleksic

JKP GSP Beograd

Centar za lokalnu samoupravu Beograd

GSP Beograd

Bozankaya

Stadler

PESA

tender for purchase of 25 trams for GSP Beograd

stopping of tender for purchase of 25 trams for GSP Beograd

request for protection of rights