The tender for Slovakia's electronic road-toll collection system, for which the winner has already been chosen, will continue, said Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Ľubomír Vážny on July 10. Vážny was reacting to the opposition SDKÚ party's appeal to both him and Prime Minister Robert Fico to "cancel the non-transparent tender", the TASR newswire wrote.
The National Highway Company (NDS), which is managing the tender, has excluded three out of the four bidders, effectively choosing the winner - Slovak-French consortium SanToll. The three unsuccessful bidders then filed objections with the Public Procurements Office (ÚVO), which has ruled that their exclusion was legitimate.
According to Vážny, ÚVO is dealing with another objection regarding "other proceedings of the public procurement". He predicts, however, that an agreement with the unofficial winner will be signed "in September or October."
At the same time, the minister confirmed that the European Commission on July 9 asked the Slovak Government for data regarding the tender, including the reasons why the three unsuccessful bidders were excluded.
"We will respond," he added. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
