Pardubice Region will announce a new competition for the construction of a psychiatry facility

Pardubice - The Pardubice Region wants to announce a new competition for the construction of the psychiatric pavilion of Pardubice Hospital in the first half of November. Dominik Barták, the spokesperson for the Regional Authority, informed ČTK about this. The previous tender organized by the Pardubice Region Hospital (NPK) was canceled at the end of August, among other reasons, due to suspicions of a prohibited agreement among the participants in the competition.

The tender documentation has undergone several changes compared to the original competition, with the common goal of accelerating the construction and avoiding discrimination against participants. Just as is the case with transport constructions, in addition to the offered price, the duration of construction will also be an evaluation criterion with a weight of one-fifth.

"At the same time, we want to open the entire contract to a wide range of competitors, and therefore there are changes regarding the requirements for references, bank guarantees, insurance, or penalties. Our goal is to allow participation in the competition for as many companies as possible, thus establishing a real competitive environment that will lead not only to faster construction but also to potential financial savings," said Governor Martin Netolický (ČSSD).

The regional leadership and the NPK company have filed a criminal report against an unknown perpetrator on suspicion of rigging in public competition. The matter is currently being investigated by the National Center Against Organized Crime (NCOZ). How far the investigation has progressed is unclear. "NCOZ does not disclose information from the criminal proceedings," said NCOZ spokesperson Iva Knolová to TK.

On August 17, the governor stated that he received prior information about what the lowest bid price would be in the competition and who would submit it. The information was confirmed during the opening of the envelopes, which is why he approached the police. According to him, this may involve the crime of rigging in the award of public contracts and public competitions. He was informed about possible illegal activities on August 14 by the chairman of the supervisory board of the Pardubice Region Hospital (NPK), Vítězslav Novohradský.

The envelopes with the bids were opened on Thursday, August 16. The estimated price of the contract was 223.5 million crowns, and the lowest submitted bid was 257.5 million crowns. The high price was also one of the formal reasons for canceling the competition. The region also sent a check to the hospital for this and other public contracts of the NPK company.