ÚOHS canceled the Brno tender for the purchase of starter apartments for the second time

Brno - The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) has cancelled the tender from the Brno city hall for the purchase of 84 starter apartments for young families for 150 million crowns for the second time. The decision is final, as the city hall did not appeal against it. Today, ÚOHS published the decision on its website.
     In the original decision from 2011, the office identified errors. Therefore, last year ÚOHS chairman Petr Rafaj returned the case to his subordinates. They have now repeated the main part of the verdict.
     The Brno city hall made mistakes even when announcing the contract. The city did not set partial evaluation criteria to express the relationship between utility value and price. There were also other mistakes in the tender.
     The city hall did not set a deadline for submitting bids in relation to the subject of the contract. There were also errors in defining the contract in the procurement documentation. The city hall should have excluded the bids from the Impera association and REKO a.s., which it ultimately selected as the most advantageous. According to ÚOHS, they did not meet the requirements stated in the procurement conditions. The city hall also erred by selecting two winners, which is against the law.
     The investment in starter apartments was approved by the city council in March two years ago. The coalition selected two entities as winners from the selection process - the company Reko and the Impera association. Each of them will build an apartment building for the city in the Kamechy housing estate between Bystrc and Žebětín. The deal was criticized by the opposition TOP 09 - councillor Jaroslav Kacer described it as scrappage for developers. The mayor’s deputy Oliver Pospíšil (ČSSD) previously rejected his criticisms.
     Kacer criticized that the city is buying apartments at market price, and even with land. Meanwhile, the city has its own land on which it could have the apartments built. Moreover, by doing so, it would retain influence over the architectural solution, layout, and other details. However, Pospíšil had previously stated in response to Kacer's criticisms that the situation in the real estate market offers hope for a advantageous purchase.
     In the buildings whose purchase was approved by the city councillors, there are to be one- and two-room apartments. People will be able to occupy the starter apartments for five years, after which they must move out.