The Procurement Monitoring Bureau Iepirkumu uzraudzības birojs (IUB) has prohibited the state-owned company Valsts nekustamie īpašumi (VNĪ) from signing a contract in the tender for completing the construction of the A2 building of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital.
The IUB decision was made after reviewing a complaint submitted by SIA “Aimasa” regarding the results of the tender organised by VNĪ.
In the procurement for the completion of the A2 building — including design documentation, construction works, and author supervision — VNĪ had selected the suppliers’ association “NSHC Group”, consisting of SIA “Hanza Construction Group” and SIA “Baltic Construction Company”.
In its complaint, “Aimasa” challenged the tender results, arguing that the winner was unjustifiably deemed to meet several qualification requirements, that the contracting authority had not properly verified the contract price, and that both the winner and “Aimasa” itself were assigned unjustified scores in certain evaluation criteria for the most economically advantageous offer.
IUB annulled the decision of VNĪ’s procurement commission on the tender results,
prohibited VNĪ from concluding the contract with “NSHC Group”, and instructed it to remedy the identified violations within 30 working days, reassess the submitted bids, and adopt a new decision.
According to the IUB decision, the part of “Aimasa’s” complaint related to the evaluation of the winner’s financial offer was upheld. IUB concluded that VNĪ unjustifiably corrected an alleged arithmetic error in the winner’s financial proposal, even though there was no basis to consider that such errors existed.
In IUB’s view, by making this correction, VNĪ effectively altered the winner’s bid. “NSHC Group” had indicated in its financial offer that total costs in certain positions were calculated based on risk probability, and therefore could not automatically be considered incorrect simply because they did not match the multiplication of unit price and quantity.
IUB also found that VNĪ had not properly assessed whether the initially offered price was abnormally low
and whether the contract could realistically be executed at that price.
Therefore, IUB concluded that VNĪ’s actions may contradict the objective of the Public Procurement Law to ensure efficient use of public funds and minimise risks.
The remaining parts of “Aimasa’s” complaint were not upheld. No violations were found regarding “NSHC Group’s” compliance with requirements on turnover, experience as the main contractor, construction company registry requirements, or several evaluation criteria — including additional experience of the responsible construction manager, cooperation experience between project and construction managers, and qualifications of the responsible construction manager.
According to the Public Procurement Law, the IUB decision may be appealed to the Administrative District Court within one month from the date of notification.
It has been reported that three bidders participated in the procurement.
The proposed prices ranged from 101.55 million euros to 133.65 million euros excluding VAT.
Bids for completing the new A2 building of PSKUS were submitted by “Aimasa”, the suppliers’ association “NSHC Group”, and the consortium “SNL būve”, which includes SIA “Spyke”, LAU Infra Grupa (formerly “Latvijas autoceļu uzturētājs”), and SIA “Newcom Construction”.
According to the final report of VNĪ’s procurement commission available in the electronic procurement system, “Aimasa” offered 114,073,376 euros, while “SNL būve” offered 133,650,954 euros.
“NSHC Group” initially offered 101,556,493 euros, but after the correction of arithmetic errors, the price increased to 120,371,505 euros. Even with this revised price, VNĪ’s procurement commission deemed “NSHC Group’s” bid the most economically advantageous.
At the same time,
the report states that the contract with the winning bidder was to be concluded for 96.8 million euros
excluding VAT. This contract would cover general works, while VNĪ would have the right to commission specific works at the prices indicated in the bidder’s financial offer.
According to the tender conditions, the expected duration of construction works is 36 months from the signing of the contract.
The aim of the procurement is to ensure the completion of the PSKUS A2 building by updating the construction design and carrying out necessary demolition, general construction, and engineering works. The project is intended to create modern, safe, and functional healthcare infrastructure that meets the highest standards of quality, safety, and sustainability.
The project will be implemented using a “design and build” procurement procedure. Based on previous technical assessments and a developed remediation programme, a detailed mould monitoring and elimination programme is also planned to ensure a safe and sustainable hospital environment.
The fully completed A2 building is planned to be commissioned in the first half of 2029.
The A2 building is intended to house the Emergency Medical Centre and patient admissions, operating theatres, surgery and neurosurgery units, a neurology department and stroke unit, maxillofacial surgery, as well as intensive care units and the Women and Children’s Clinic with a maternity ward. The new building will significantly improve patient safety, efficiency of medical treatment, and the working environment for healthcare staff.
It has also been reported that during the procurement process, a complaint was submitted by SIA “Velve”, whose contract for the construction of the building was terminated in February 2024, but IUB rejected that complaint.
Construction of the Stradiņš Hospital A2 building began in 2020 but was halted in February 2024 due to mould risks, delays, and rising costs. “Velve” states that more than 3 million euros has been spent on design and more than 47 million euros on construction so far, while a dispute over an additional 11 million euros is currently being reviewed in court. After construction was halted, more than 7 million euros was spent on urgent additional works.
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