Tender for new Bucharest buses worth EUR 112 mln has been cancelled

The City Hall failed to attract any bidder in the public tender for the acquisition of 400 new buses fitted with air conditioning that would gradually replace the aging fleet of public transit vehicles.

The contract was worth RON 510 million (EUR 112 million), according to profit.ro. Several bus makers and distributors were interested in the tender including Mercedes Benz Romania, MAN Truck & Bus and Scania. However, some of the companies withdrew from the tender and none of the bidders provided a price offer.

The tender was challenged by BMC Truck&Bus, the importer of Turkish producer BMC, which argued that the City Hall should split the contract into several packages. The National Council for Solving Appeals rejected the request of BMC.

Restarting the procedure: The City Hall said the tender will be restarted, saying there was a technical glitch in the online public acquisitions platform SEAP regarding the extended deadline for the former tender from August 14 to August 16. The City Hall said that the announcement regarding extended term for receiving offers was not published on time on SEAP.

In a separate tender, the City Hall wants to award a contract worth RON 11 million for the upgrade of 150 buses with air conditioning systems. The offers submitted by bidders will be made public in mid-September.

Most of the buses in Bucharest have been delivered by Mercedes Benz following a tender that was organized more than a decade ago. The public transit operator of the Romanian capital is RATB, which is controlled by the City Hall.