Decision D. 503/17/2024 by the Public Procurement Arbitration Board

In its ex officio initiative concerning the public procurement procedure titled “Renovation of Training Kitchen at HMSZC Sárvári Kálmán Vocational College”, conducted by the Vocational Training Centre of Heves County, the Integrity Authority raised objections to: the infringement of conflict of interest rules and, therefore, the rules applying to the evaluation of tenders; the infringement of the principle of ensuring fair competition; the breach of the rules of fair competition by the winner of the procedure; and, finally, the amendment of the contract concluded as a result of the procedure.

The Arbitration Board upheld the ex officio initiative and imposed a fine.

In its decision, the Arbitration Board found that conflict of interest rules had been breached when the contracting authority failed to detect a high degree of similarity between the itemised budget submitted by the first respondent (the winning tenderer of the procedure) and the designer’s preliminary cost estimate, and failed to take any measures to clarify the situation. Through these omissions, the contracting authority also infringed the guidelines on the evaluation of tenders.

In its decision, the Arbitration Board also upheld the part of the initiative that raised an objection to the contracting authority’s inadequate preparation of the procedure. In this regard, the Arbitration Board found that the contracting authority had failed to prepare the public procurement procedure with due diligence, as the work ordered through the contract amendment had already been known when the call for tenders was issued.

No request for judicial review has been filed against the decision.