UVO Checking Objections to D1 Turany-Hubova Tender; NDS Extends Deadline

Bratislava, 19 October (TASR) - The Public Procurement Office (UVO) has initiated proceedings, as part of a restricted tender for the construction of the Turany-Hubova section of the D1 motorway, following objections to the conditions set out in other documents required for the preparation of a request to participate, the office announced on Monday in its journal, stating that the strategic agenda supervision department had initiated the objection proceedings on 16 October. The National Highway Company (NDS) also stated in the tender documents that it had extended the deadline for submitting applications to participate to 19 November, from the original date of 19 October. In the current new tender for the contractor for the 13.5-kilometre D1 Turany-Hubova stretch, including the Korbelka and Havran tunnels, this marks the fifth postponement of the deadline for interested parties to register. This is the first phase of the tender process prior to the submission of bids. The motorway authority has been organising the construction of the final section of the D1 motorway between Bratislava and Kosice for more than two years. The estimated current costs, including design work, amount to €1.573 billion, ex-VAT. The works and design are provisionally scheduled to take seven years. At the end of 2025, UVO chairman Peter Kubovic ordered the cancellation of the original tender for the D1 Turany-Hubova section, which had been launched in August 2024, on the grounds of a breach of public procurement rules. The Administrative Court subsequently rejected the National Highway Company's application for suspensive effect in connection with the action seeking a review of the legality of the Public Procurement Office's decision. The estimated cost of the first tender was €1.473 billion, ex-VAT. In March this year, NDS launched a new tender to select a contractor for the afore-mentioned motorway stretch. The estimated costs rose by €100 million to €1.573 billion, excluding VAT. In this tender, the Public Procurement Office has already ordered the motorway operator to rectify the unlawful situation on the basis of one of the objections raised by a tenderer against the tender conditions. Specifically, this involves amending the condition for participation relating to technical or professional competence, in the section on the minimum required standards, so that experience is demonstrated by separate references - that is, experience gained from the implementation of different projects. am/mcs