After numerous complications, contract for construction of missing station building at new Belgrade Bus Station finally awarded – Job worth 6.7 billion dinars

The contract for the second phase of the construction of the bus terminal in Block 42 in New Belgrade, or rather for the construction of the station building in the new Belgrade Bus Station (BAS) complex, after several halts and postponements of the completion of this tender, has officially been awarded to a consortium consisting of G4S Secure Solutions doo Belgrade, Jadran doo Belgrade, ABA Professional doo Belgrade, Dot networks doo Belgrade, Dot smart solutions doo Belgrade, Traco-invest doo Belgrade, Celik doo Backi Jarak and Armont doo Stara Pazova. The value of the awarded contract is around 6.7 billion dinars.

As can be seen in the contract award decision, two more groups of bidders submitted bids to the tender, including, among others, Strabag and Energorpojekt. However, both these bids, although the other two consortiums offered a lower price for the works than the consortium that was ultimately awarded the contract, were assessed as unacceptable for several reasons.

When it comes to the group of bidders that won the job, within it, the largest share, in terms of value, or the percentage of work to be done, will be held by Jadran from Belgrade, with 63.53% of the work.

Let us remind that the tender for the construction of the BAS central building in Block 42 was announced in October last year and was originally supposed to be completed on November 22, but in the meantime, it was interrupted and extended, most recently on April 11 to April 17, when it was expected that it would finally be awarded, but this only happened now.

Since the autumn, when this public procurement was initiated, this procedure has been partially annulled by the Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures, and then in March the public procurement procedure was resumed, and the deadline for the application of interested contractors was extended until April 3.

The decision on the aforementioned partial annulment of the tender was made by the Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures based on a request for protection of rights submitted by the company Strabag. As previously stated in the documentation, that company submitted a request at the end of last year, complaining, among other things, about the actions of the contracting authority when preparing the tender documentation, indicating that “preference is given to certain manufacturers of technical equipment and competition is directly excluded.” Strabag also indicated that the bidder was required to have engineers with an expert Cisco certificate, and as they stated, “the criterion set in this way aims to further limit competition and give advantage to bidders offering Cisco equipment.” The applicant then pointed out that it had addressed the contracting authority with a request to make appropriate changes to the document “Technical Specifications with the Price Structure Form” when it comes to flooring, stone cutting works, drywall and tiling works. They also stated that the technical specifications and project documentation were inconsistent in certain parts. The Republic Commission assessed certain allegations by Strabag as well-founded, and certain others as unfounded.

After all this, the tender documentation for the public procurement was amended in several ways, thus removing the possibility of advance payment, and the maximum deadline for the execution of works was reduced from 730 to 640 days.

This tender, as a reminder, concerns the second phase of the construction of the new bus station complex. According to the architectural design that, at the request of the investor, the City of Belgrade, was developed by the Institute of Transportation CIP, the station building is planned as a free-standing building, with a floor plan of SB+GF+1+RF (retracted floor).

The main entrance to the central station building will be from Antifasisticke borbe Street, while on the opposite - northwestern side of the building, entrances and exits to the station platform are planned. The building will be equipped with five main entrances and exits for passengers and users of the BAS bus station services, and it is also planned to form a station square with access roads and two parking lots for short-term parking (accompanists and visitors). The canopied pedestrian square will be located above the underground garage of the building.

The new, unfinished bus station in Block 42 opened to passengers at the beginning of last fall when all intercity and suburban transport was transferred to it from the old station in the Sava Amphitheatre, which was soon razed to the ground. A small annex was set up as a temporary station building for passengers, a future heated corridor between the new BAS and the New Belgrade railway station. What passengers still complain about when it comes to the new BAS is the poor public transport connection to several parts of the city, the lack of canopies on the platform area for suburban traffic and, above all - the lack of a central station building.

D. Aleksic

G4S Secure Solutions d.o.o. Beograd

Jadran d.o.o. Beograd

Aba professional doo Beograd

DOT Networks doo Beograd

DOT Smart Solutions doo Beograd

Traco-Invest doo Beograd

Armont d.o.o. Stara Pazova

JP Direkcija za građevinsko zemljište i izgradnju Beograda

BAS Beogradska autobuska stanica a.d. Beograd

Čelik d.o.o. Bački Jarak

Belgrade Bus Station

BAS

new BAS in Block 42

construction of station building