The Commission for Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures annulled the decision of the Montenegrin electricity distribution system operator CEDIS to award Meter & Control, a company controlled by Vojin Lazarevic, the contract for the installation of 32,000 smart meters and other equipment worth 4.7 million euros.
The annulment of the tender for the purchase and installation of smart meters confirmed the previous reports of the Montenegrin media that CEDIS directly favored the company which made the most expensive offer.
The local consortium Mezon-Enerdat and the Bosnian/Montenegrin consortium of Infinity ITSS and Energy and Prointer ITSS appealed against the CEDIS’ decision because they thought that the management of the company illegally, ignoring the terms of the tender, declared their bids invalid.
The way in which the CEDIS management prepared a tender for the procurement and installation of smart meters, changing tender conditions and, finally, the decision on the first- ranked company indicates that the Board of Directors of the state-owned electricity distribution company favored one bidder.
The winning bidder offered to charge 2 million euros more for the contract than other bidders. Namely, according to unofficial information, the offer of the Maison-Enerdat consortium was 1.9 million euros cheaper than the first-ranked one. The offer of the local Electro Tim was cheaper by about one million euros, and the offer of Bosnian/ Montenegrin consortium Luka by about half a million euros.
