ŠKODA Transtech has submitted a formal complaint to the Finnish Market Court in response to the decision earlier this month by Helsinki Metropolitan Area Transport (PKO) to award a contract to Stadler to supply 63 LRVs.

Škoda says it believes the decision to exclude it from the tender is “discriminatory and in breach of fair and transparent competition principles.” It alleges that Stadler Polska was selected as preferred bidder “without any evaluation or comparison of other offers,” and argues that its offer was fully compliant with the tender requirements and fell within the allocated budget.

Stadler confirmed on October 7 that it had been awarded the contract for 30 uni-directional and 33 bi-directional LRVs as well as a 30-year maintenance agreement. The contract also includes options for up to 120 additional vehicles. While Stadler did not reveal the value of the agreement, the contract was estimated to be worth €1.6bn when the tender was launched in October 2023.

Responding to the announcement, Škoda issued a statement in which it said it was analysing the outcome of the procedure. In a detailed response issued on October 21, Škoda says that the product it offered is based on verified Finnish technology supplied by domestic companies, while refuting the three main reasons given by PKO for excluding it from the tender:

  1. alleged unreliability of Škoda Transtech due to delays in connection with previous contracts. Škoda says the delays do not meet the legal grounds for exclusion from the tender and that these delays were duly remedied in the past by Škoda Transtech. It adds that the alleged unreliability was not raised during any of the negotiation phases and this is not compliant with Finnish public procurement law
  2. alleged undue influencing of the tender process. Škoda says PKO considered statements made by Škoda Transtech’s representatives to the media during the tender process as undue influencing, although it says they mentioned only “publicly-known facts,” and
  3. alleged non-compliance with technical requirements. During the tender process Škoda Transtech confirmed that its offer is “fully compliant” with all mandatory technical requirements, clarifying at PKO’s request that any discrepancies would be minor mistakes arising from the tender documentation. Škoda says this clarification was not taken into the account.

“It is apparent that the superficial exclusion terms have been manufactured as a way to exclude Škoda Transtech from the process and potentially to avoid a proper evaluation and comparison of all tender offers,” Škoda says. “This would most likely have shown that Škoda Transtech’s offer was more favourable.

“The procurement decision is conditional on approval by the city councils of Helsinki and Vantaa to increase of the budget allocated to this tender. This fact suggests that the price offered by Stadler Polska is higher than the allocated budget in the tender and is therefore higher than the price offered by Škoda Transtech. This would become even more apparent if a due evaluation and comparison of the offers had taken place based on all relevant evaluation criteria such as the lifecycle costs for the operation of the trams.”

“We strongly believe that every tender should be truly competitive - allowing the customer to compare key factors such as price, lifecycle costs and the overall value of the offer and ability to deliver on time,” says Petr Novotný, CEO of Škoda Group. “The decision to exclude one offer at the very end of a two-year tender procedure, without having a chance to be evaluated, does not fulfil basic principles of equality and fairness and completely distorts competition.

“Our Finnish company, Škoda Transtech, has a long and proud history of developing and manufacturing trams in Finland, and we remain committed to contributing to sustainable public transport in the Nordic region,” Novotný says.

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