Procurement Declared Improper, Elering to Appeal
The Public Procurement Appeals Committee has decided that power transmission system operator Elering adhered to legislative rules in organizing a procurement but improperly allowed the winner to revise its bid after additional negotiations.
The March 22 decision means that Elering may not award the contract for operating the electronic trading system for the power market to Tieto Estonia and Tieto Latvia. In response, Elering said it would file an action in administrative court.
The Tieto companies' contract award was challenged by Proekspert AS, which said Elering allowed the winning bidder, Tieto, to change deadlines and lower price bids. Other bidders were allegedly not given equal opportunity for negotiation.
The system in question was a full software and hardware solution for developing a data warehouse, an information system containing metering data for consumers and network operators. After the electricity market is fully deregulated in 2013, sellers would begin receiving data on metered quantities of electricity by groups of consumers.
Elering said that to make progress on the issue, it would be re-convening a steering group set up for developing the data warehouse, consisting of Economics Ministry, Competition Authority, Data Inspectorate, Elering, and representatives from regional power companies.
Kristopher Rikken