The largest tender in Berlin's S-Bahn history could violate public procurement law in parts. This was made clear by the Berlin Court of Appeal on Friday at the start of its hearing on the tender by the states of Berlin and Brandenburg. The court is to examine the tender procedure and assess whether the procedure is correct under public procurement law. After several hours of hearings, it was considered unlikely that a decision would be reached on the same day.
The French rail technology group Alstom has criticized the tender modalities and has therefore gone to court. In October 2022, the public procurement chamber of the state of Berlin came to the conclusion that the procedure was not objectionable. Alstom lodged an appeal against this decision with the Court of Appeal. The ball is now in the court of appeal's court.
The Court of Appeal is hearing a total of 25 complaints from the Group. Some of these are well-founded according to previous assessments, others are not, explained presiding judge Cornelia Holldorf. The judges are focusing on five areas - and in four cases the complaints are justified according to the preliminary assessment of the senate, explained Holldorf. For example, Alstom criticized the criteria according to which incoming bids are to be evaluated. The court also sees a residual risk that the most cost-effective bid will not necessarily be awarded the contract.
