The ruling of the court confirms that the procedure for selecting a contractor for one of the key public contracts for the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector is lawful and complies with the Bulgarian legislation

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) sitting with three judges upheld the decision of the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC), confirming the decision of the project company ICGB AD to select the Greek company Corinth Pipeworks S.A Pipe Industry S.A. as a contractor for the manufacture and supply of line pipes. The same decision eliminates the company Toplivo-2 EOOD from the procedure due to non-compliance of its technical proposal with the requirements of the technical specification for the tender. By decision №15289, the appeal of Toplivo-2 EOOD was finally dismissed and the first instance decision of the CPC was considered lawful and substantiated.

SAC points out that even a single non-compliance in the technical proposal with the conditions of the documentation and requirements of the contracting authority is a sufficient prerequisite for eliminating a participant from the procedure. According to the court, the project company ICGB had clearly stated the reasons for the applicant's dismissal in the report of the committee that evaluated the proposals for the tender. Thus, the claims of Toplivo-2 EOOD were found entirely unfounded and unjustified.
The court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed.

With SAC’s ruling, the case regarding dismissing Toplivo-2 EOOD is completely closed. This way, ICGB can successfully continue the implementation of the contract for the supply of line pipes, also providing assurance to the financing institutions - the EIB, the Managing Authority in Bulgaria under OPIC and the EC, that there is no doubt regarding the lawful conduct of the procedure.

For more information:
Diana Zaykova
Action Global Communications Bulgaria
Tel.: +359 2 9803018
Mobile: + 359 885 074422 Date 14/11/2019