Transport Minister Georgi Gvozdeikov directly negotiates the mega-order for the purchase of 35 new locomotives, inviting 4 companies for negotiations. This is clear from an announcement published in the public procurement register, it says "24 hours".
He will negotiate with the companies that participated unsuccessfully in the previous order, as well as with the Polish division of the German "Stadler", which has already signed a contract for another large order with the ministry for 7 double-decker trains.
The mega-auction has an estimated value of BGN 1.1 billion, and it will purchase 35 motor trains with a minimum of 200 seats and a speed of over 160 km/h.
In the previous public procurement, the bids of two companies - Škoda and PESA - were opened, and a consortium around the Romanian "Alstom" disputes the order. However, it was terminated not because of Alstom's complaint, but because of the terms proposed by the companies, which go beyond the maximum set by the contracting authority. The Ministry of Transport insists on receiving the locomotives within 28 months from the entry into force of the contracts, with both companies that submitted bids claiming a longer delivery period.
And under the direct negotiation procedure, the delivery period remains unchanged - 28 months. It is dictated by the expiration of the horizon for the implementation of the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability - 2026. Bulgaria risks not being able to claim part of the money if individual investments and reforms fall behind. It is not clear whether the direct negotiation will be able to arrive at offers that manage to fit into this deadline. Otherwise, the price offers of both Skoda and PESA are well below the announced estimated value - respectively BGN 617.8 million and BGN 822.5 million.
From the documentation of the new procedure for direct contracting, it is clear that the estimated amount of BGN 1.1 billion also includes an option for the delivery of additional trains, and the costs for their delivery and maintenance cannot exceed 369, BGN 5 million. The same option was included in the previous order.
The Ministry of Transport has given a deadline of May 21 for the submission of bids. They will be opened a day later - on May 22.
The purchase of new trains for the railways is one of the biggest investments under the recovery and sustainability plan. If Bulgaria fails to receive all the funding under the plan due to delays, individual projects will have to be financed from the national budget.