BSJP BNT has advised JSK Architekci on its winning bid during public contract award proceedings for the design of the Air Traffic Control Tower of Centralny Port Komunikacyjny – including representation in three appeal proceedings before Poland's National Appeals Chamber.
CPK is a planned transfer hub between Warsaw and Lodz that will integrate air, rail, and road transport. It has been billed as "the largest transport investment in Europe," with the airport alone expected to cost around EUR 8 billion. "This is a prestigious project which, due to its scale and its expected planned functions, will constitute a signature feature of the planned CPK," BSJP BNT announced.
According to the firm, the three different appeal proceedings before the National Appeals Chamber concerned: first, the rejection of "a competitor's bid, previously selected by CPK as the most favorable one [...] due to its proven unreasonably low price; second, another competitor's bid being downgraded; and third, the successful defense of JSK's bid, once it had been selected as the prospective winner.
"The decision in the first of the appeal proceedings deserves particular attention, where the Chamber accepted the allegation of submitting a bid with an unreasonably low price," BSJP BNT reported. "In the justification for this ruling – ordering the contracting authority (CPK) to reject the bid initially selected as the most favorable one – the NAC indicated the issue of the omission of certain elements of the price and the lack of sufficient justification for the other essential elements of the price, the far-reaching underestimation, also as regards the required number and remuneration of personnel. It also questioned that, in the face of experienced market participants competing against each other, the experience of one contractor is supposed to be the factor that allows it to offer a price less than half the average value of the submitted bids."
According to the firm, the decision "is a positive example in light of previous rulings in similar cases. The Chamber confronted the tendency of contracting authorities to automatically recognize explanations of unreasonably low prices and drew attention to the necessity to provide detailed and specific demonstration – and thus submission of evidence – confirming that the price and its essential components are of a market nature, are realistic, and ensure the due performance of the contract."
The BSJP BNT team included Partner Jaroslaw Sroka and Advocate Michal Rusin.