Poland’s border watch is going to sign agreement to build frontier monitoring system worth EUR 40m without tender. This seems the only way to save nearly EUR 40m from the Phare funds, which were to be given to Poland provided that the radar system agreement is signed till the end of June. The tender has been cancelled recently and it seemed impossible to sign the agreement before deadline.
“We are trying to order the system under procedure complying with the public tenders code”, Jaroslaw Zukowicz, the spokesman of border watch authorities admitted. According to the law, no tender has to be announced if the country’s security requires that. “This law has been there from the very beginning, moreover it agrees with EU law”, a public tender specialist explained. He said it was strange that this trick had not been used by border watch authorities before.
After the tender was cancelled, several companies filed a suit against the procedure. Until claim procedures end, the authorities cannot sign any agreement. Companies are afraid that agreement will simply be signed with Atlas Elektronik/WPRT without negotiations. Those companies made the pilot part of the system. It had so many mistakes that border watch announced a new tender to prepare the whole system. Again Atlas Elektronik/WPRT was chosen although there were three cheaper offers. Protests were submitted, so the authorities cancelled the tender.