The Public Procurement Authority is initiating legal remedies in the case of the billion-dollar electricity purchase in Budapest. BKV held preliminary negotiations on the procurement of trams for which it later announced a public procurement procedure, so they could give preference to one applicant .

According to Origo's information, the background to the acquisition is that Mayor Gergely Karácsony accepted the proposal of Deputy Mayor Kata Tüttő in June, in which he proposed the purchase of used, non-air-conditioned German trams for the capital. Bypassing the general assembly, the mayor decided in one person on the public procurement procedure announced for the German company.

On the website of the Public Procurement Authority, it is written that announcements and articles published during the summer revealed that BKV Zrt. held preliminary consultations regarding the trams for which it later announced a public procurement procedure. In this, he favored the company with which he had presumably already agreed.

BKV Zrt. decided to purchase 35 used, low-floor trams in order to replace the out-of-date Ganz articulated trams. The call for public procurement was published on August 24, 2021 in the Official Journal of the European Union.

From the announcement published in August, it is clear that the transport company has announced a public procurement procedure (a so-called negotiated procedure starting with an announcement), which in principle any potential economic operator can apply for. Based on all of this, however, it is clear that in this public procurement procedure, due to the preliminary consultation between the contracting authority and the future winner, the purity of the competition and the equal opportunities of the economic operators are not ensured.

In view of the above circumstances, the President of the Public Procurement Authority initiated a legal remedy procedure at the Public Procurement Decision Committee due to a serious violation of the principles of conflict of interest, the purity of competition and equal opportunities for economic operators and filed the necessary criminal complaint.

Source: Origo