Due to a number of complaints against the selection of local company Canpipe BG as contractor in the project, Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) has suspended the tender for the construction of gas interconnection between Bulgaria and Serbia.
The statement from the CPC said that 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 has issued its final ruling on the complaints.
The complaints that suspended the project were submitted by candidates which were excluded from competing or were ranked below the winner in 73.4 million euros tender for the supply of equipment and the construction of the Bulgarian section of the gas interconnector with Serbia, published by Bulgarian natural gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz.
Last month, Bulgartransgaz announced that the offer of Canpipe BG worth some 70 million euros is ranked first in the tender for the construction of a Bulgarian section of gas interconnection with Serbia. A local company established by Canadian Canpipe Industries International Inc, received an overall score of 97.79 points in the tender. The offer submitted by a consortium of Bulgarian companies Glavbolgarstroy and Glavbolgarstroy International was ranked second with overall score of 97.14 points. Bulgartransgaz said earlier that a total of 11 offers was received at the tender. The tender was launched in January.
The project for gas interconnection between Bulgaria and Serbia envisages the construction of gas pipeline with the annual capacity of 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas. Length of the Bulgarian section of the pipeline, stretching from the border to capital Sofia, is 62 kilometers. The pipeline should be completed by May 2023.
