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Baker McKenzie Successful for Bombardier in Defense of Procurement Contract Award

Baker McKenzie Successful for Bombardier in Defense of Procurement Contract Award

Austria
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Baker McKenzie is reporting that Austria's Federal Administrative Court has upheld the decision by the passenger transportation subsidiary of Oesterreichische Bundesbahnen (OBB) to award a contract for new trains to Bombardier.

According to a Baker McKenzie summary, the OBB had put out to international tender a framework agreement on the order of up to 300 local passenger trains with an estimated procurement volume of almost EUR 2 billion. On October 6, 2016, aircraft and railway manufacturer Bombardier was awarded the contract. Unsuccessful competitor Stadler Rail objected to the Federal Administrative Court, and on Friday, December 2, 2016, the award division, chaired by Hubert Reisner, found that the award to Bombardier was proper and justified.

Bombardier was successfully represented in the matter by a Baker McKenzie team led by Senior Associate Franz Josef Arztmann in the review proceedings, which focused on the question of whether the OBB should have carried out an "in-depth tender pricing evaluation," given Bombardier's more favorable maintenance costs. "Within the scope of the proceedings," said Arztmann, "we were able to prove that the maintenance costs are in line with market conditions, that there was no doubt as to the adequacy of the prices, and that Bombardier had, in fact, submitted the most favorable tender." 

Arztmann was assisted by Baker McKenzie Junior Associate Sandra Seldte in the proceedings.

Stadler has not announced whether it plans to file an appeal against the administrative court's decision.

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