This is the last phase before their re-announcement
The Ministry of Transport and Communications has completed the processing of the four public procurement contracts for the purchase of new rolling stock. The completed documents have been sent to the Public Procurement Agency and the National Fund Directorate of the Ministry of Finance for the mandatory prior checking procedure.
We remind you that the procedures were terminated by Minister Georgi Gvozdeykov and committees were immediately appointed to revise their conditions. The amendments made will lead to savings of financial resources due to the elimination of additional activities in the procurement. The eligibility criteria for participants have also been expanded to allow a wider range of producers to take part and therefore more competition between them.
In addition to the delivery of the rolling stock, the contractor has a commitment to provide maintenance for 15 years. The condition for the construction of a maintenance repair facility, which is not covered by the requirements of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and poses a high risk of delaying the implementation of the entire project, has been removed. Participants are given the opportunity to organise maintenance in the most efficient, cost-effective and market-driven way, which they will determine themselves. There is also an additional procedure for checking rolling stock at the end of the 15-year maintenance period, which will certify that it is fit for further service.
The new conditions set out requirements for the participants that the rolling stock should be operational 94% or 96% of the time per quarter, depending on the type and number of trains. This requirement shall regulate the contractor's maintenance time, which shall not exceed the scheduled hours. The types of maintenance activities and specific response times are also described.
Another novelty is the formula for indexation of the maintenance price, which was missing in the conditions. It is based on two publicly available indices — rail rolling stock prices and transport wage rates.
The order for 18 shunting locomotives is divided into 2 lots — for 9 locomotives for shunting inside depots and for 9 locomotives for shunting in partially electrified depots and on tracks from depots to stations. For the first 9 locomotives, the requirement for documents to run on the national rail network is waived. These changes are expected to save approximately BGN 25 million from this procedure alone.
The deadline for submission of proposals is 60 days from the date of the call for tenders. After its expiration, by order of Minister Gvozdeykov, an organisation has been set up for evaluation, ranking, selection of contractors and conclusion of contracts by the end of 2023. The deadline for the manufacture and delivery of rolling stock under the four contracts is 33 months from the signing of the contracts.