Evaluation of applications for HPP Dabar project to be repeated

The evaluation of applications to bid for financing and building hydropower plant HPP Dabar will have to be repeated, after part of the procedure was annulled following a complaint filed by one of the applicants, a consortium of China National Electric Engineering Co. Ltd (CNEEC) and Slovenia’s RIKO, local media reported.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s office handling complaints in public procurements has dismissed CNEEC and RIKO’s objections to their disqualification in the first phase of the procedure to select a partner for HPP Dabar, but it has accepted their claim that the other participants have also failed to prove they possess the required personnel capacities, according to reports.

In January this year, Hidroelektrana Dabar, a subsidiary of hydropower plant operator Hidroelektrane na Trebišnjici (HET), a unit of Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske, issued a public call for financing and building HPP Dabar, a turnkey/engineering project valued at some EUR 200 million. The deadline to submit applications was March 1.

Two Chinese companies were cleared for the second phase on April 22, while the CNEEC-RIKO consortium was disqualified. The consortium then lodged a complaint, alleging that the tendering procedure was rigged, local media recalled.

“Irregular and unconvincing approach” in considering applications

In the explanation of its decision to order a repeat procedure, the complaints office said that Hidroelektrana Dabar, in the part of its decision referring to personnel capacities of two applicants, stated merely that the required information was “submitted,” which, in the office’s opinion, was an “irregular and unconvincing approach” in considering the applications.

Hidroelektrana Dabar was therefore ordered to repeat the evaluation procedure and prepare documentation that will contain the “necessary analytical elements” regarding the required and submitted evidence.

HPP Dabar is to be built on the Trebišnjica river, and its installed capacity is planned at 160 MW, according to earlier reports. Under the preferred financial model, the future partner would secure a loan to cover at least 85% of the project cost.

In late 2018, Hidroelektrana Dabar selected a consortium led by AF-Consult Switzerland Ltd. to advise it in awarding a contract to build the hydropower plant. The consortium also includes auditor Deloitte d.o.o. in Belgrade, Serbia and law firm Moravčević, Vojnović i Partneri AOD, also based in Belgrade.

HPP Dabar is one of the projects planned by power utility Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske over the next 10 years.