Rail Baltica tender: Mirbud-Torpol excluded over 15,000 PLN penalty

The Mirbud-Torpol consortium has been excluded from a multi-billion PLN Rail Baltica reconstruction tender due to the failure to disclose a minor environmental penalty of 15,000 PLN.

Although the consortium's bid was approximately 650 million PLN cheaper than its competitors, the Public Procurement Court ruled that omitting the penalty in the Single Procurement Document (JEDZ) constituted a serious misleading of the contracting authority. The court noted that the amount of the fine was irrelevant, as the omission deprived the contracting authority of the ability to assess grounds for exclusion.

Initially, PKP PLK selected the Mirbud offer, but an appeal by Budimex led to interventions by the National Appeals Chamber (KIO) and subsequently the court, resulting in the exclusion.