Romania Plans Harsh Measures To Discourage Challenges To Public Works Auctions

Basescu rebuked western companies for resorting to auction challenges when they fail to win public works contracts, a procedure that entails the halt of public works until the challenge is resolved.

„I think Romania is the only country where large companies involved in infrastructure works dare to do that,” Basescu said Monday at the Romanian Economic Forum.

The head of state exemplified saying a EUR1.6 billion project is currently blocked because a company that lost the auction, a big western European company he did not name, challenged the auction in court.

„The challenge means we’re going to go though about three courts although I can assure you the contract was awarded fairly. And there are hundreds of such examples,” Basescu said.

He added western contractors are fighting over European funds because no Romanian company meets contract-awarding criteria, as none of them has ever built 500 kilometers of highway.

„Don’t make us resort to measures such as forbidding you to ever work on the Romanian market if you’ve lost an auction, challenged it and lost, because that means you’ve just stalled the project,” Basescu said, adding Romania is working on harsh measures to discourage what he deemed „Balkan habits of western companies”.