Kosevi confirms pre-selection of two future operators for technical review

According to the official letter sent to Cosevi director Cindy Coto Calvo on August 8, the board agreed to “declare the pre-selection” of the offer made by the Applus CR consortium, which includes Riteve SyC, and the German consortium Grupo TÜV Rheinland. In addition, the agreement instructs the competent authorities to proceed to the next stage of the competition, that of awarding the services.

Visited: The review committee confirmed that only two companies met the requirements for technical review

The decision was taken at its July 31 meeting following receipt of an evaluation report from the Kosevi Standing Tender Committee, which confirmed the suitability of both bidders.

“Taking into account the general description of the contract contained in section 1 of the norms (…) and the fact that the cartel’s objective is to select two operators, the Commission recommends that the offer presented by the Applus CR consortium and the TÜV Rheinland group be declared as pre-selected unless senior management decides better,” cites the document included in the process document of the Integrated Public Procurement System (Sicop).

The committee’s report noted that although there was a 30-point difference between the qualified bidders on the experience standard, this did not affect the overall process because both met the requirement to have conducted at least 25 million inspections.

To be precise, the assessment of the experience provided by the German company initially excluded it from the pre-selection process. However, following an appeal to the Comptroller General of the Republic, the Commission was ordered to once again examine the technical experience provided by the consortium to which TÜV Rheinland belongs and whether it meets the requirements of the 25 million comprehensive inspections.

This resolution of the control body also forces Cosevi to continue with the competition, which had been declared unsuccessful because only one of the three companies initially met the requirements and at least two companies needed to qualify, since the aim was to provide the service by two companies.

In the first phase, the offer made by the current operator Dekra was abandoned under the following circumstances: Not meeting the financial requirements, although Applus was the only company to comply with all the conditions of the cartel.

After analyzing all the evaluation elements, the European Commission awarded the Applus Alliance 100 points and TUV TUV Rheinland 70 points because the former certified 71 million checks; the second met the 25 million “minimum” stipulated in the cartel.

Visited: Both operators will provide technical review services when Dekra signs contract

Technical review operator selection must wait

Since June 19, before the final results of the evaluation report were published, Cindy Couto had warned that even if the prequalification phase was completed, a final decision could not be made because it was waiting for the decision of the Chambers Constitutional Court on the violation of the provisions of the Traffic Law on technical inspections.

Visited: Technical review can be carried out by Applus and TÜV Rheinland

The regulations in question relate to the operating model established for this service, so future contracts could conflict with the law. If the House of Representatives repeals these provisions, legal reforms may be needed to correct these deficiencies.

Likewise, we are awaiting the tariff schedule for the technical review service.

On July 31, Dekra filed an appeal for protection, seeking review of “violations of due process”. They claim that the acceptance of more than 25 new documents submitted by TÜV Rheinland was made after the deadline. The protection has not yet passed the admissibility stage of the Constitutional Court.

On Wednesday, Cindy Couto also reported that she had received “informal” information about Dekra filing a complaint with the Auditor General’s Office regarding Kosevi’s conduct.

“We cannot comment in detail because we have not received any hearing or formal referral from the Office of the Auditor General (…) All actions of Kosevi are carried out within the legality and parameters of the legal system. The level of the technicians involved in these processes is very high, which is why we support their actions, but we also respect the regulations of the regulatory entities,” said Couto.

Currently, Dekra operates under a two-year unstable use license, which expired at the end of October. However, Kosevi extended the deadline by nine months to complete the bidding process and the transfer stations and equipment for the two future operators.