The Tarnița-Lăpustești project must go ahead and will go ahead at the fastest possible pace, because it is the most important investment aimed at balancing the national energy system, says the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, after the ministry announced on Friday that no complying offers have been submitted for carrying out the feasibility study.
“Any major project also encounters challenges. We found a significant interest from the big profile companies, but – unfortunately – this did not materialize through compliant offers at this time. At the same time, more than 70 requests for clarifications were received, which concerned both the possible extension of the submission deadline and the contractual clauses. Some have already been accepted. We ordered the urgent resumption of the technical-economic documentation acquisition procedure, taking into account all the clarifications received in the first stage. We are confident that the resumption of the procedure will be done at the beginning of next week, with an improved award documentation, which will take into account the requests of the private sector. This will increase the chances of the successful completion of the procedure, which will have an initial term of 30 days. The Tarnița project “Lăpusteşti must go ahead and it will go ahead, at the fastest possible pace. It is the most important investment for balancing the national energy system, and the feasibility of its realization is confirmed by reputable experts in the energy sector. We encourage all possible competitors to get involved in the bidding procedure and to submit complete and compliant bids, within the terms provided by law,” said Burduja.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Energy, in October 2023, SAPE S.A. has launched the procurement procedure for the Feasibility Study and Technical-Economic Documentation related to the investment objective Hydroelectric Power Plant with Accumulation by Pumping (CHEAP) Tarnița – Lăpuşteşti.
Later, at the request of the potential bidders, in order to prepare the documentation according to the legislation in force, the term was extended by a period of 23 days until December 27, 2023, at 15:00. 15 bidders signed up for this procedure, including some of the largest profile companies in the world.
On December 27, 2023, the public procurement portal displayed the message “This procedure was canceled automatically, because on the deadline for submission of offers, none of the registered bidders encrypted the financial offer/or did not respond to all the electronic evaluation factors , as the case”. Thus, the procedure was cancelled.
The competent ministry explains the situation by the fact that the submission period also mattered, the month of December being an interval with a limited capacity for the involvement of companies.