On Thursday, the Bratislava Regional Court canceled the two-level decisions of the Public Procurement Office (UVO) from July 6 and April 18 of this year on removing the construction company Doprastav from its list of qualified businesses. Spokesman for the court Pavol Adamciak said that the court canceled both of the challenged decisions by the Public Procurement Office according to the Civic Court Order and returned the case to the authority for further proceeding. "The verdict is valid; an appeal is not permissible," said Mr. Adamciak. The company's removal from the list of qualified businesses would mean that it cannot take part in bidding for public contracts.
UVO spokeswoman Helena Fialova told SITA that the office's decision to remove Doprastav from the list of businesses was a response to a cartel agreement concluded by six companies in a tender for the construction of the Mengusovce - Janovce D1 highway stretch. However, the UVO has in fact not yet implemented its decision.
The Bratislava Regional Court postponed its proceedings in the case of the six construction companies and the Antitrust Office indefinitely. The plaintiffs asked the court to examine the legitimacy of the PMU decision from October 16, 2006 on a record fine at total sum of SKK 1.349 billion for the aforementioned cartel agreement.
The dispute concerns the companies Skanska DS, a.s.; Inzinierske Stavby, a.s.; Strabag, a.s.; Doprastav, a.s.; Betamont, s.r.o.; and Mota Engil. These were found to have coordinated their price bids in advance for the tender for construction of the D1 highway section between Mengusovce and Janovce, thus restricting competition. The PMU has required the six construction companies to pay fines totaling SKK 1.349 billion for their price cartel involvement.
The companies filed a complaint with the Bratislava Regional Court, which decided that the enforcement of the verdict would be postponed in the case of four of the companies, namely Strabag, Doprastav, Mota Engil and Skanska DS. The companies do not have to pay the fine until the verdict comes into force.
StoryEditor