For the Construction Project of Forensic Psychiatry in Sarajevo, Experience in Designing Airports Is Required

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Public Institution Psychiatric Hospital of Sarajevo Canton has issued a tender for the main design of the construction of the Forensic Psychiatry Department within this institution. The deadline for submission and opening of bids ended yesterday.

The estimated total contract value excluding VAT is 245,000 KM.

Independent architects who spoke to Patria note a number of shortcomings in the tender itself, which may indicate that the tender was pre-arranged, and as such could be subject to complaints and challenges to its transparency.

„From a technical aspect /tč.7.4.1. of the Tender Documentation/, the elimination criterion for participation is completely ridiculous. The condition of designing, for example, an airport or a „tower“ is unnecessarily restrictive... On the basis of this point, the tender could be overturned.“

Namely, bidders for the main design of the construction of the Forensic Psychiatry Department are required, under „technical and professional capabilities,“ to have experience in „designing complex building systems or units of no less than 5,000 square meters of net enclosed space that have been built and put into operation. Complex buildings in high-rise construction include facilities of specific purposes such as airports, hospitals, stadiums, swimming pools, railway stations, towers and buildings over 100 meters in height, prisons and prison complexes.“

The execution deadline, which the bidder must define in their offer, may also be contentious. It is assumed that most bidders will propose the deadline and payment terms as prescribed in the Tender Documentation, and offer a certain price for that.

A bidder that someone might want to „prefer“ in the selection process only needs to offer an execution deadline one day less than the defined one to win the contract, even if their price is higher.

„It may also be problematic that only the income statement for 2017 is required, while the law allows the possibility of requesting balance sheets for no longer than three years. A company may have positive operations in 2017 but have operated at a loss in previous years, which is a real possibility for manipulation. The opening of bids was conducted on February 21, 2018, even though the deadline for submitting the financial report for 2017 is February 28, 2018.“