Chinese railway company CNR has protested a decision to award a tender for locomotives to Bombardier in a letter sent Sunday to Israel Railways. The firm claimed the results of the tender were predetermined and hurt the "public's interest" and demanded Israel Railways avoided completing the tender until CNR could examine the materials and "exhaust its procedural rights."
Last week, Israel Railways announced that Canadian transportation giant Bombardier won a tender for the procurement of electric locomotives one of the largest in the electrification project undertaken by Israel. The total cost of the infrastructure overhaul is estimated at NIS 13.7 billion, while the current tender, for 62 electric engine cars with an option for 32 more, is believed to be worth NIS 1 billion.
Four companies bid on the tender: Chinese firms CNR and CSR, French multinational Alstom, and Bombardier. In recent months, CNR and CSR merged, leading Bombardier and Alstom to threaten legal action if the Chinese bids weren't disqualified and they were.
Now, according to CNR, the tender process was tailor-made to suit Bombardier. The company cited several charges, including that firms which produced products according to European regulations received higher marks and the team in charge of the electrification project was composed entirely of advisors to Germany's national rail company, Deutsche Bahn, which is a client of Bombardier.
Therefore CNR demands to receive all documents relating to the tender, including the bids, internal communications from the tender committee, the scores given to the other bidders, information relevant to the scoring of the bids, and all the expert opinions both internal and external presented to the committee.
In response, Israel Railways said it "offered all bidders an equal opportunity. The tenders committee made its decision based on practical considerations alone, according to the law."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 10, 2015
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