Prague will comply with the decision of the Office for the Protection of Competition regarding the tender for the completion of Nová Palmovka in Prague 8

Prague - Prague will cancel the exclusion of the company Porr and the selection of the supplier Geosan Group in the tender for the completion of the remains of the building Nová Palmovka in Prague 8, where the European Union Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA) is to be based after completion. It will also withdraw its previously submitted appeal against the non-final decision of the antimonopoly office (ÚOHS), which ordered the city to take the aforementioned steps. The city council approved the move today, justifying that continuing the proceedings with ÚOHS would mean too much delay in the completion, which was originally planned to be finished this year.

The council initially selected the company Porr as the winner of the contract last April, but later canceled the selection due to received objections and excluded the company from the tender in September for non-fulfillment of conditions, specifically the lack of qualification of the specialized personnel. The council then selected a new winner of the tender at the beginning of October, the company Geosan Group, at a price of approximately 2.9 billion crowns. Porr's original offer was about 2.6 billion crowns.

Porr defended itself against its exclusion at ÚOHS, which agreed with the company. The city management then appealed against the office's decision from the end of last year, suggesting that the chairman of ÚOHS, Petr Mlsna, cancel the contested decision and return the matter for reevaluation. The city argued that Porr was repeatedly asked to clarify and supplement its fulfillment of conditions, which the company did not provide.

However, the city management has now changed its mind and approved that the city would fulfill the office's requirements and reevaluate the tender, including Porr's bid, which is the lowest and which the city will likely have to select again. According to the document approved by the council, the reason is that the appeal would mean two more proceedings at ÚOHS lasting about four months, with an uncertain outcome.

Councilor Zdeněk Kovářík (ODS) stated today after the council meeting that the city, after evaluating its legal options, decided that it would be easiest not to contest the office. "Even so, it means that we still have one proceeding left and we must complete all the steps," he said.

The city is under time pressure because, according to the original memorandum from 2023 between the government and EUSPA, the European organization was supposed to start moving there by the end of this year. "Blocking and prolongation of this project could have far-reaching consequences for the cooperation of this organization and the Czech Republic as its current host, as well as potentially negative market impacts, but it could also affect the good reputation of the Czech Republic in a European context," states the approved document.

The company Porr welcomed the city's decision. "This confirmed that there was no reason for the exclusion of Porr. Our offer was the cheapest, and we met all the qualifications. We believe that this step will allow for a quick conclusion of the contract and the start of construction," said its director Dušan Čížek.

"We are convinced that the offer from Porr does not comply with the qualification requirements according to the tender documentation," said Vlasta Končelová, spokesperson for Geosan Group.

Today, the chairman of Prague's ANO, Ondřej Prokop, criticized the city management for the delay. "The Prague coalition has failed again. It did not handle the assignment or the course of the competition and is now desperately backing down from the dispute with ÚOHS to rectify its own mistakes and speed up an already critically delayed realization," he stated.

The EUSPA agency manages, among other things, the operations of EU space programs, including satellite and navigation projects, such as the European Global Navigation Satellite System Galileo or the Copernicus program for Earth observation. The organization moved from Brussels to Prague in September 2012 under the name European Global Navigation Satellite System Agency (GSA). The existing building on Janovského Street in Holešovice is no longer sufficient for the agency's size.

The building in Palmovka began construction in 2014 by Prague 8, which was to house the town hall supplemented by a shopping center. Work was halted the following year due to various disputes, and the construction has been at a standstill ever since. After long negotiations, the building was taken over by the magistrate from Prague 8 in 2021, which then considered placing the emergency service headquarters in it. Ultimately, an agreement was reached with the state and EUSPA.