ÚOHS issued the third preliminary measure prohibiting the conclusion of a contract for the construction of metro line D.

Brno - The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) issued a third preliminary measure, which prohibits the Prague public transport company from signing a contract with the winner of the tender for the second phase of the construction of the new metro line D. The office has not yet decided on the matter itself, and the preliminary measure does not presage the outcome of the administrative proceedings, said the office's spokesperson Martin Švanda to ČTK today. The issuance of the preliminary measure was highlighted by the Seznam Zprávy server. According to the public transport company (DPP), the procedure of ÚOHS in similarly complex cases is common and does not mean that DPP has made a mistake, stated DPP's communication department head Daniel Šabík.

"In each of the three administrative proceedings that the office is currently conducting regarding the next stage of the D metro construction, a preliminary measure has been issued. The preliminary measure relates to the statutory blocking period, which prohibits the contracting authority from signing a contract for a period of 60 days from the delivery of the proposal. If the contracting authority were to sign the contract, the office would no longer be able to decide on the procurement procedure and potentially impose corrective measures,” Švanda stated.

He emphasized that the issuance of the preliminary measure does not presage the decision in the matter itself, in its justification, ÚOHS merely summarizes the legal question under review and it does not constitute preliminary conclusions of the office.

According to DPP spokesperson Šabík, this is a standard measure until ÚOHS investigates the specific proposal and makes a final decision on it. "This decision is not surprising. It has proceeded in exactly the same way with the other two proposals within the tender for the contractor of the second section of the D metro. In such factually complex cases, ÚOHS typically does not decide within the statutory time limit and there was a risk that the contracting authority could sign the contract before the decision itself without the issuance of a preliminary measure,” Šabík stated. According to him, ÚOHS received the individual proposals at different times.

The thirty billion crown contract was won in September by the company Subterra from the Metrostav group. Previously, the public transport company excluded a bid two billion cheaper submitted by a consortium around the firms Porr and Vinci. According to the public transport company, it did not meet the conditions of the tender.

The tender was first challenged by the company Metrostav, and the administrative proceedings are still ongoing. The consortium around the firms Porr and Vinci challenged the tender with two proposals at ÚOHS, and the company Strabag also submitted a complaint.

The construction of the new Prague metro line began last year, and a kilometer-long section between the Pankrác and Olbrachtova stations is currently under construction. This will connect to the section from Olbrachtova to Nové Dvory, which is the subject of the discussed tender. The section from Nové Dvory to the Písnice Depot will be built last.