Another GSP tender under financial leasing model fails – No interested bidders for 50 single gas buses

Purchasing vehicles for the needs of GSP Beograd through financial leasing is apparently not a good procurement model, because for a long time now, the largest city transport operator’s tenders formed under this model have not been successfully completed. This is confirmed by the public procurement announced in early March for the purchase of 50 single gas buses, because within the tender for this job, no bidder has submitted a bid to date, when the deadline for submitting bids was, announced the unions Centar and Sloga and the Union of Public Transport Employees of Belgrade.

As stated by these unions, European financial institutions have withdrawn from this process “due to the risks and unclear conditions that accompany this procedure.” The unions also add that a detailed analysis of the tender documentation has determined that the specification is “largely adapted for Otokar.”

– This failure must be the last warning for all those who decide on procurement. GSP urgently needs new vehicles in order to maintain the timetable and ensure dignified working conditions for drivers and quality public transport for Belgrade citizens. We must not allow time to be wasted on questionable procurement models that reject serious partners and limit competition, because every such attempt to rig a tender in the past year has been doomed to failure – assessed the president of the GSP Beograd Centar union, Ivan Bankovic.

The unions appealed to the GSP management and the City Administration to immediately begin preparing a new “inclusive and fully transparent tender.”

– The goal must be real competition between world manufacturers who will provide the best possible price for buses for GSP, without intermediaries and unnecessary burdens on the budget. The citizens of Belgrade deserve the highest quality buses at realistic prices, and GSP Beograd employees deserve safety in work and stable business operations of the company – the statement emphasized.

The unions also announced that, in the coming period, they would prepare an initiative to be sent to the City Assembly and the Secretariat for Public Transport, for a one-year postponement of the ten-year age limit for buses in public transport, which according to the current city decision is scheduled for September 1, 2026.

Let us remind that, in the previous period, the procurement of single and articulated vehicles was suspended, as well as last year’s purchase of 100 short trams, and recently the tender for the procurement of 85 trams was also suspended. In January, the tender for the purchase of 150 buses (70 articulated and 80 single ones) for the needs of GSP Beograd also failed because no bidder came forward. The initial procurement for 300 buses (170 single and 130 articulated ones), which was launched almost a year ago, was first postponed several times, during the tender the specification of the vehicles being purchased was changed, and then the Republic Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures issued a decision establishing illegalities, so the entire procedure was suspended.

A tender for the purchase of 50 trolleybuses was recently launched using the financial leasing procurement model, so after all this, it is reasonable to ask whether this procurement will suffer a similar fate. Whether this will be the case should be known by the end of April.

D. A.

JKP GSP Beograd

GSP Beograd

GSP Beograd Centar union

GSP Beograd Sloga union

Union of Public Transport Employees of Belgrade

Ivan Banković

procurement of buses for GSP Beograd