SÃO Paulo Metro has revoked the provisional award of the Line 19-Sky Blue Lot 1 civil works contract after disqualifying the lowest bidder, the Nove de Julho consortium led by PowerChina, following a challenge by a rival consortium. The move has prompted PowerChina to announce legal action, raising the prospect of further delays to the project.
Line 19-Sky Blue will be a 17.6km metro line with 15 stations linking Anhangabaú in central São Paulo to Guarulhos. Lot 1 covers the construction of tunnels and five stations in Guarulhos and is one of three major civil works packages for the project.
The Nove de Julho consortium’s bid was valued at Reais 4.98bn ($US 95m). However, São Paulo Metro subsequently accepted an appeal filed by the Agis-OHLA-Cetenco consortium, which bid Reais 5bn.
The Agis-OHLA-Cetenco consortium argued that the original award did not comply with the tender rules, and that the technical certificates presented by Nove de Julho failed to comply with the criteria set out in the bidding documents.
São Paulo Metro conceded that the Nove de Julho consortium bid failed to fully meet the tender’s technical qualification requirements, particularly relating to proof of experience using tunnel boring machines.
Nove de Julho says it will challenge in court the decision to exclude it from the bidding process, asserting that its technical credentials were valid and had initially been accepted by the contracting authority. The consortium says it will pursue “all administrative and judicial measures” available to reverse the disqualification and defend its position in the tender process.
The dispute has forced São Paulo Metro to reassess the other qualified bids for Lot 1. São Paulo Metro is still evaluating bids for two other lots for Line 19-Sky Blue for which Odebrecht submitted the lowest bids. Although São Paulo Metro says it has not yet commented on these bids, rivals have already filed appeals against the results.
