Renge Rebuilding: Lithuania's Pps Finds No Violations, Commission Still Looking for Threat

VILNIUS, March 12 (LETA--BNS) As the Lithuanian government commission checking deals of strategic companies had doubts over the transparency of the contractor tender called by Lithuania's state-run railway company Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) for rebuilding the 19-kilometer railway section between Mazeikiai and Renge, in Latvia, as well as its winning company's shareholder's alleged ties with Russia, Lithuania's Public Procurement Service has stated that the tender was transparent and it will not carry out its in-depth assessment.

According to information available to BNS Lithuania, the tender's winner, railway construction and repair company Vitras-S, part of Estonia's railway services and investment group Skinest Rail, might have come into agreement with LDZ Infrastruktura, a subsidiary of the Latvian Railways (Latvijas Dzelzcels), which came in second in the tender, on participation in the tender. Moreover, there are also doubts over the ties of Vitras-S board members who are former high-ranking employees of Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai.

In February, the commission halted the deal's assessment, with unofficial sources telling BNS Lithuania that the deal reached deadlock.

Lead by Deputy Government Chancellor Alminas Masiulis, the commission asked in early February for conclusions from the PPS, Competition Council, Special Investigation Service, Ministry of Transport and Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai.

PPS Deputy Director Jovita Petkuviene told BNS Lithuania that her service would not carry out an in-depth assessment of the contractor tender as it sees no violations in its conditions.

"We have no suspicions of possible violations, including some competition restriction among the qualification requirement or through the evaluation criteria. Four providers took part, which allows us to conclude that competition was ensured. Another thing is that we have not received any complaints from the market over the procurement conditions. We see no basis to launch the assessment," Petkuviene told BNS Lithuania.

In her words, if the purchasing organization sees during the proposal assessment stage that several providers coordinated their offers, acted unfairly, and it has substantial evidence, then the public procurement law allows removing such providers from the tender. She underlined that removed providers can turn to court but need serious evidence.

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai told BNS Lithuania the company has no sufficient evidence on some providers...