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Bemax: The state knowingly damaged 147,000, the goal is our elimination, we are going to the Administrative Court
The Bemax company made a statement today after the state commission rejected their appeal regarding the decision of the Ministry of Public Administration, which relates to the reconstruction of the old government building.
They said they received the decision with concern.
“This decision not only sets a legal precedent in the Montenegrin public procurement system, but also directly damages the state budget, ignoring our offer, which was 147,000 euros more favorable than the selected offer of the Consortium. The Commission, adhering exclusively to excessive formalism, confirmed our disqualification due to the technical form in the Subcontractor’s Statement, where instead of exclusively “execution of works” the wording “design and construction” was used,” they pointed out.
They believe that the goal of the procedure was to eliminate Bemax.
“The rejection of the appeal due to this procedural phrase, and at the moment when we offered the lowest price, confirms that the real goal of the procedure was to eliminate Bemax, and not to select the most economically advantageous bidder. – We especially emphasize the shocking part of the Commission’s explanation: “The Commission for the Protection of Rights did not consider the other complaint allegations of the appellant, because he did not prove that there was no reason for his exclusion from the public procurement procedure…” This interpretation of the Law, which completely ignores economic viability, sends a message to all economic entities that in Montenegro, quality and the best price are not chosen, but exclusively political and formal suitability,” they added.
They will continue, they say, with their efforts to protect their rights.
“The Bemax company hereby informs the public that we will not give up on protecting our rights and that we will initiate proceedings before the Administrative Court of Montenegro. Our legal team, in preparing the lawsuit, will use detailed guidelines and examples from practice that clearly prove that this level of formalism is unacceptable in developed legal systems and that it is directly contrary to the essence of the Law on Public Procurement. Through further proceedings, we will argue that our case is identical to situations in which courts have annulled the decisions of contracting authorities when the formal error was insignificant in relation to the financial benefit offered by the bidder,” they added.
As they conclude, they believe that the Administrative Court will recognize and correct the illegality and financial harm of decisions that were made exclusively to the detriment of the state and in the interest of dubious tender games.