Transport Minister Roman Brecely (source: SITA)
The tender, with a price estimated at €48 million without VAT, was launched under former transport minister Ján Počiatek and was aimed at creating a centralised database that would contain information on all active infrastructure operators in a particular region.
After taking over the ministry, Brecely (a Sieť/Network nominee) set up an expert team to examine all ongoing tenders in the field of IT. “After a detailed examination, the team came to the conclusion that the Atlas of Passive Infrastructure project lacked an in-depth analysis taking into consideration all the impacts of the project,” minister said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. ”Therefore, we cannot see clear scope for the project or for certain technical matters. So I decided to cancel the public procurement for the project and return to the analytical phase,” he added.
Moreover, the project has not clearly defined the way in which necessary source data will be obtained, and does not contain the due financial specification, the Sme daily wrote on August 15. The previous ministry selected Slovak Telekom as a contractor but has not signed a contract yet, the daily added. One of the objections of the expert team was also the fact that only two competitors placed bids.
IT experts of the Slovensko.Digital civic association welcome the transport minister's decision. In February, they pointed out – together with Fair-Play Alliance – several IT purchases that lacked source studies. “Meanwhile, the project of electronic cards for clients was stopped by the Health Ministry, the project of automatic radars at the Interior Ministry, and most recently Brecely decided to scrap the project to build the Atlas of Passive Infrastructure,” the SITA newswire quoted their statement.
Brecely considers, according to TASR, the project itself to be important, as apart from mapping the telecommunication lines of mobile and fixed networks it should also include the latest data on transport and water networks as well as data on energy, gas and thermal installations. The transport minister is convinced that restarting the project will bring lower costs and greater benefits to the public.
