The ministry’s attention turned to the tender concerning traffic control devices for the city after another bidder, OÜ KiirWarren KL, submitted an according request. KiirWarren KL didn’t win the tender despite having made a more favorable bid than Signaal TM, business paper Äripäev reported on Wednesday.

The summary published by the ministry’s oversight office states that the tender is to be declared invalid, as the date on which the winner would have had to start providing services was March 1 this year. As the dates in the contract with Signaal TM don’t match those of the tender and there is no reason for the change that would be acceptable by law, the tender couldn’t be awarded to the company, the oversight office stated.

The city’s transport department confirmed that the contract remained unsigned for reasons beyond their understanding, but that they had gone ahead in good faith and in the knowledge that the tender documents, while specifying when the winner was supposed to start providing services, did not state an exact date by which the contract needed to be signed.

In its explanations the department pointed out that it had also included the ending date of the previous provider’s contracts in its deliberations, and the aim had been to avoid an interruption.

The Ministry of Finance’s oversight office stated that Tallinn’s transport department was still planning to sign the contract after May 17, and that the contract couldn’t be signed any earlier because of the complaint by Signaal TM’s competitor.

According to Äripäev, KiirWarren KL has provided the required services to the city for years. Their bid for the €5 million tender was the lowest, and in spite of the company’s experience and the previous cooperation with the city found to be unreasonably low by the transport department.

While KiirWarren KL is a well-known company, Signaal TM’s ownership isn’t clear, as it is owned by a letterbox company in Cyprus.