The Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB is in a stronger legal position regarding the tendering of new trains. As expected, the Council of State has rejected the appeal by German company Siemens Mobility against NMNS/SNCB’s plans to award an order for hundreds of new trainsets to the Spanish company CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles).
The Auditor had previously recommended that Siemens’ appeal should be rejected. For clarity: This concerns a ruling in the Dutch-language case before the Council of State. In a French-language case, Alstom, which also missed out on the order, appealed. However, no ruling has been made in this case yet.
‘Award procedure conducted correctly’
Siemens experienced difficulties with the award procedure and the evaluation of the bids. “The NMBS/SNCB is not getting the best value for money here,” had said Siemens’ lawyer, who also criticized the “risk of favoritism” in the way the case was handled.
However, in early September, the Auditor saw no problems with the award procedure. “Negotiations did take place to arrive at binding offers, so competition did indeed take place.” As Siemens did not reveal any shortcomings on the part of NMBS/SNCB in this case, the Auditor, therefore, proposed that Siemens’s request for suspension be rejected.
The Council of State is now following that advice. According to the authority, Siemens “does not demonstrate at first glance that there was a new, unannounced assessment method and retroactively established sub-award criteria.”
Auditor once again turns a deaf ear to NGOs
During the hearing in early September, the four NGOs and civil society organizations also spoke again, accusing CAF of being closely involved in human rights violations and war crimes in Palestine through the construction of a tram line connecting West Jerusalem with the occupied West Bank.
However, the Auditor objected to their intervention in the tender dispute and proposed that their request for intervention be rejected, a proposal that the Council of State followed.
NMBS/SNCB says in a response that it takes note of the decision. The railway company is now awaiting the ruling of the Council of State in the French-language case, which is considering Alstom’s appeal. This is expected in the course of next week. In that case, too, the Auditor recommends that the appeal be rejected.
