Contract for reading work counters, which Electric distribution of Serbia (EDS) awarded to the consortium company led by the company "T&M group solutions", will not be signed yet, because all activities in this procedure are temporarily suspended. The reason for this is the complaint, that is, the request for the protection of rights, which was submitted after the job was awarded, writes Dunja Marić for The new economy.
About two weeks ago, on January 12, EDS awarded the meter reading job to a consortium led by T&M Group Solutions. In addition to that company, which is the holder of the job, the consortium also includes Pro tent, Dobergard and the temporary employment agency Laboris HRS.
The deal is worth 2,4 billion dinars, or slightly more than 20 million euros, excluding VAT.
Now, however, all further activities in the public procurement procedure, which include the conclusion and then the implementation of the contract, are suspended, until the decision of the Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures is made. This committee should make a decision - either they will accept the request and suspend the procurement, or they will reject it, or partially accept it.
Who submitted the request - it is not known. This information will be published only after the decision of the Republic Commission.
Already seen
However, this situation already happened in December, when another consortium of companies that participated in the tender filed a complaint.
Less than two months since EDS awarded the job to the consortium that was the "winner" in the tender for meter reading, the Commission made a decision to partially cancel the tender. It was the second consortium, which felt that it was damaged, that filed the complaint. That consortium is made up of the companies Đerdap usluge, Đerdap usluge zizivanje and Agency for temporary employment Work and Care. Their bid, by the way, was cheaper than the one that was eventually awarded the job.
The Commission then adopted their request, and ordered EDS to repeat the stage of expert evaluation of the bids, that is, to select again from the received bids, of which two were received. Also, EDS was then ordered to compensate the companies within 15 days for costs in the total amount of 1.305.600 dinars.
Although the offer of this consortium was lower at the time, amounting to two billion dinars (compared to the winning consortium's offer of 2,4 billion dinars), it was rejected. The reason for rejection is that the consortium did not meet the criterion of "educational and professional qualifications".
It is interesting that due to the complaint of the Đerdap service company, the previous procurement of the meter reading service was also suspended. Specifically, at the end of 2024, this procurement was suspended, because this company repeatedly complained about the decision of EDS to award the work to the company of Marko Bosanc, a businessman close to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Who was assigned the job?
By the way, the company that was awarded the job this time is well known to the public. In fact, she attracted attention when, on election day 2023, her vehicles were spotted at the location where "phantom voters" were brought from Bosnia and Herzegovina to vote in the local Belgrade elections. As Radio Free Europe first reported at the time, at least five vehicles with the markings of this company were seen that day near Belgrade's "Stark Arena", where, as the media discovered, voters were being driven to vote. Citizens were not allowed to enter the Arena at that time.
One of the owners of this company is former handball player Dane Šijan. In March 2021, together with handball player Vladimir Mandić, he was detained in Montenegro ahead of the local elections in Nikšić in March 2021. They were detained on suspicion of illegally bringing money into Montenegro and helping the coalition gathered around the pro-Russian Democratic Front (DF). Šijan is also one of the signatories of support for the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Also, this company often gets jobs from the state. These are primarily security and cleaning services. And Dobergard, which is in this consortium, is also one of the selected companies that performs security work in Belgrade.
Source: New Economy
